Version 2023 for Windows®

User’s Guide
 Copyright PG Music Inc.1989-2023. All rights reserved.
 PG Music Inc. License Agreement
CAREFULLY READ THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS BEFORE COMPLETING THE INSTALLATION OF THIS
SOFTWARE. USAGE OF THE SOFTWARE INDICATES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS.

LICENSE
A. The program may only be used on a single machine.
B. You may transfer the program and license to another party if the other party agrees to accept the terms of this Agreement. If you transfer
the program, you must either transfer all copies, whether in printed or machine readable form, to the same party, or, destroy all copies not
transferred. This includes all modifications and/or portions of the program merged into other programs.
C. You may receive the program in more than one media. Regardless of the type or size of media you receive, you may install or use the
media on a single machine.
D. The program (including any images, “applets,” photographs, animations, video, audio, music, and text incorporated into the program) is
owned by PG Music Inc. or its suppliers, and is protected by international copyright laws and international treaty provisions.
You may not use, copy, or transfer the program, or any copy, modification or merged portion of the program, in whole or in part, except as
expressly provided for in this license. If you transfer possession of any copy, modification or merged portion of the program to another party,
your license is automatically terminated.
Some programs such as Band-in-a-Box® have a “server” function (including BandInABoxServer.exe program) to connect to a “Client”
(mobile client version of Band-in-a-Box® on iPhone or other mobile device). You are only licensed to connect the Server function (including
BandInABoxServer.exe program) to Clients where you own or have properly licensed both the Client and Server software that is being
connected, not to clients or Server software owned/licensed by third parties. The preceding also applies to any other PG Music products
(RealBand etc.) with a similar type of connection between a Server program and a Client.
LIMITATION OF REMEDIES
PG Music Inc.’s entire liability and your exclusive remedy shall be:
A. The replacement of any media not meeting PG Music Inc.’s “Limited Warranty,” which are returned to PG Music Inc., or an authorized
PG Music Inc. dealer, with a copy of your receipt.
B. If PG Music Inc. or the authorized dealer is unable to deliver replacement media which is free of defects in materials or workmanship, you
may terminate this agreement, and your money will be refunded.
In no event will PG Music Inc. be liable to you for any damages, including but not limited to lost profits, lost savings, or other incidental or
consequential damages arising out of the use or the inability to use such program, even if PG Music Inc. or an authorized PG Music Inc. dealer
has been advised of the possibility of such damages, or for any claim by any other party.
NOTICE TO CUSTOMERS
The following paragraph applies to the video join tool (vjt.exe, vjt_ffmpeg.exe, and other files in the \Data\VJT folder) that may be included
with this installation. Notice Required for the License Granted under Articles 2.1 and 2.6 and for Sales to Codec Licensee Customer(s). As a
condition of the license granted under Article 2.6 and the license granted to a Codec Licensee to make Sales to Codec Licensee Customer(s),
Licensee agrees to provide any party that receives an AVC Product from Licensee exercising such license rights the following notice: THIS
PRODUCT IS LICENSED UNDER THE AVC PATENT PORTFOLIO LICENSE. SUCH LICENSE EXTENDS TO THIS PRODUCT
ONLY AND ONLY TO THE EXTENT OF OTHER NOTICES WHICH MAY BE INCLUDED HEREIN. THE LICENSE DOES NOT
EXTEND TO ANY OTHER PRODUCT REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SUCH PRODUCT IS INCLUDED WITH THIS LICENSED
PRODUCT IN A SINGLE ARTICLE. THIS PRODUCT IS LICENSED UNDER THE AVC PATENT PORTFOLIO LICENSE FOR THE
PERSONAL USE OF A CONSUMER OR OTHER USES IN WHICH IT DOES NOT RECEIVE REMUNERATION TO (i) ENCODE
VIDEO IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE AVC STANDARD (“AVC VIDEO”) AND/OR (ii) DECODE AVC VIDEO THAT WAS
ENCODED BY A CONSUMER ENGAGED IN A PERSONAL ACTIVITY AND/OR WAS OBTAINED FROM A VIDEO PROVIDER
LICENSED TO PROVIDE AVC VIDEO. NO LICENSE IS GRANTED OR SHALL BE IMPLIED FOR ANY OTHER USE. ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM MPEG LA, L.L.C. SEE HTTPS://WWW.MPEGLA.COM.
The following paragraph applies to the video join tool (vjt.exe, vjt_ffmpeg.exe and other files in the \Data\VJT folder) that may be included
with this installation. Video Join Tool “VJT” is hereby licensed to the End-user as a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to run one
copy of the object code version of the x264 Software on one machine, device, or instrument solely as integrated into the Integrated Product. If
the Integrated Product is licensed for concurrent or network use, the End-User may not allow more than the maximum number of authorized
users to access and use the x264 Software concurrently. The End-User may only make copies of the Integrated Product only for backup and
archival purposes. The End-User is Prohibited from: (a) copying the Integrated Product and/or x264 Software onto any public or distributed
network; (b) using the x264 Software to operate in or as a time-sharing, outsourcing, service bureau, application service provider or managed
service provider environment; (c) using the x264 Software as a standalone application or any other purpose than as integrated into the
Integrated Product; (d) changing any proprietary rights notices which appear in the x264 Software or the Integrated Product; or (e) modifying
the x264 Software. The End-User may transfer the license granted by the EULA only if (a) End-User complies with any transfer terms
imposed by Licensee and delivers all copies of the Integrated Product to the transferee along with the EULA; (b) transferee accepts the terms
and conditions of the EULA as a condition to any transfer; and (c) the End-User’s license to use the Integrated Product terminates upon
transfer. The End-User must comply with all applicable export laws and regulations. If the EULA is ever terminated, the End-User is required
to immediately destroy all copies of the Integrated Product and x264 Software upon termination of the EULA.
This program may include video join tool (vjt.exe, vjt_ffmpeg.exe and other files in the \Data\VJT folder). The program uses FFmpeg under
the LGPLv2.1, which can be seen here: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/lgpl-2.1.html. FFmpeg software is not owned by PG Music
and information on ownership can be found at www.ffmpeg.org.

2 PG Music Inc. License Agreement

 TRADEMARKS
Band-in-a-Box®, Band-in-a-Box for Bozos®, CloudTracks®, GuitarStar®, JazzU®, PG Music®, PowerTracks Pro®, RealBand®,
RealDrums®, RealStyles®, and RealTracks® are either the trademarks or registered trademarks of PG Music Inc. in the United States,
Canada, and other countries. Microsoft® and Windows® are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the
United States and/or other countries. Apple®, the Apple logo, iPad™, iPhone®, iPod touch®, Leopard®, Macintosh®, Mac®, Panther®,
Power Mac®, QuickTime®, Snow Leopard®, Tiger®, and TrueType® are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and
other countries. IBM® is the registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. Roland® and “Roland” Logo, DIROL®
and “EDIROL” Logo, GS® and “GS” Logo, are registered trademarks and “MIDI2” Logo, EDIROL Virtual Sound Canvas Multi Pack, VSC-
MP1™ are trademarks of Roland Corporation. Steinberg and ASIO are trademarks of Steinberg Media Technologies AG. VST is a registered
trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies AG. Fretlight® is a registered trademark of Optek Music Systems, Inc. Other brands and their
products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be noted as such.
PATENTS
Band-in-a-Box® is protected under US Patents 5990407, 8097801, 8581085, and 8680387.
Band-in-a-Box®, RealBand®, and other PG Music software uses “élastique Pro V3 by zplane.development” as a time and pitch stretching
engine, “élastique Tune V1 by zplane.development” as a monophonic pitch editing engine, and “Harmony addon V1 by zplane.development”
for the élastique Tune Engine.
Some audio conversions use libsndfile. Libsndfile is licensed under LPGL. BeStPlain chord font - © 2016 by Bernhard Steuber CDS Design
GmbH http://cdsdesign.de. RealScore and BigBand chord fonts - Copyright © 2014 by Nor Eddine Bahha https://norfonts.ma.

Printed in Canada

PG Music Inc. License Agreement 3

 Table of Contents
PG MUSIC INC. LICENSE AGREEMENT ............................................................................................................................... 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................................................................. 4
CHAPTER 1: WELCOME TO BAND-IN-A-BOX®! ................................................................................................................. 7
INSTALLING BAND-IN-A-BOX FOR WINDOWS® .......................................................................................................................... 7
MIDI SETUP ................................................................................................................................................................................ 8
AUDIO SETUP ............................................................................................................................................................................. 11
CHAPTER 2: QUICKSTART .................................................................................................................................................... 15
STEP 1 – TYPE IN THE CHORDS ................................................................................................................................................. 15
STEP 2 – CHOOSE A STYLE ........................................................................................................................................................ 15
STEP 3 – PLAY YOUR SONG! ...................................................................................................................................................... 16
FEATURE BROWSER .................................................................................................................................................................. 17
CHAPTER 3: BAND-IN-A-BOX 2023....................................................................................................................................... 18
BAND-IN-A-BOX 2023 FOR WINDOWS® IS HERE!...................................................................................................................... 18
BAND-IN-A-BOX 2023 FEATURES AND ADDITIONS................................................................................................................... 18
ADDITIONAL NEW CONTENT AVAILABLE FOR BAND-IN-A-BOX 2023 .................................................................................... 18
SUMMARY OF NEW FEATURES.................................................................................................................................................. 22
QUICKSTART TUTORIAL ........................................................................................................................................................... 26
CHAPTER 4: THE MAIN SCREEN ......................................................................................................................................... 50
MAIN SCREEN OVERVIEW ........................................................................................................................................................ 50
STATUS BAR .............................................................................................................................................................................. 51
TRACK BUTTONS ....................................................................................................................................................................... 51
TOOLBARS ................................................................................................................................................................................. 54
PROGRESS BAR .......................................................................................................................................................................... 58
MIXER........................................................................................................................................................................................ 58
CHORD SHEET ........................................................................................................................................................................... 62
CHAPTER 5: PLAYING SONGS .............................................................................................................................................. 68
OPENING FILES ......................................................................................................................................................................... 68
GLOBAL SONG OVERRIDES....................................................................................................................................................... 73
SETTINGS FOR TRANSPOSING SONGS WHEN LOADED ............................................................................................................... 74
CHANGING THE STYLE .............................................................................................................................................................. 75
PLAYING/PAUSING/STOPPING SONGS ...................................................................................................................................... 78
CHANGING MIDI INSTRUMENT ................................................................................................................................................ 89
ADDING REAL INSTRUMENTS – REALDRUMS AND REALTRACKS .......................................................................................... 95
ADDING MIDI SUPERTRACKS .................................................................................................................................................. 98
NON-CONCERT VISUAL TRANSPOSE ........................................................................................................................................ 99
THE CONDUCTOR .................................................................................................................................................................... 100
THE JUKEBOX.......................................................................................................................................................................... 103
CHAPTER 6: MAKING SONGS ............................................................................................................................................. 105
MAKE YOUR OWN SONGS ....................................................................................................................................................... 105
CHORD ENTRY ........................................................................................................................................................................ 106
APPLYING STYLES ................................................................................................................................................................... 122
ADDING MIDI SUPERTRACKS ................................................................................................................................................ 132
USING REALTRACKS IN SONGS .............................................................................................................................................. 133
USERTRACKS .......................................................................................................................................................................... 135
USING REALDRUMS IN SONGS ................................................................................................................................................ 136
ASSIGNING CUSTOM MIDI TRACKS....................................................................................................................................... 137
ADDING LOOPS ........................................................................................................................................................................ 138
USING UTILITY TRACKS ......................................................................................................................................................... 139
TRACK SETTINGS AND ACTIONS DIALOG .............................................................................................................................. 140
ADDING BAR-BASED LYRICS .................................................................................................................................................. 142
ADDING MELODY – MIDI AND/OR AUDIO ............................................................................................................................. 144
ADDING SOLO - “THE SOLOIST”............................................................................................................................................. 147
AUTOMATIC SONGS - “THE MELODIST” ................................................................................................................................ 149
SONG EDITING FEATURES....................................................................................................................................................... 149
VIEW AND PRINT NOTATION .................................................................................................................................................. 155
SAVING SONGS ........................................................................................................................................................................ 156
SAVING YOUR CONFIGURATION ............................................................................................................................................. 167

4 Table of Contents
CHAPTER 7: REALTRACKS AND REALDRUMS ............................................................................................................. 168
REALTRACKS .......................................................................................................................................................................... 168
REALDRUMS ............................................................................................................................................................................ 187
USERTRACKS ........................................................................................................................................................................... 193
AUDIO CONTROLS FOR REALTRACKS AND REALDRUMS ...................................................................................................... 197
CHAPTER 8: NOTATION AND PRINTING ......................................................................................................................... 199
EXPLORING THE NOTATION WINDOW ................................................................................................................................... 199
STANDARD NOTATION MODE ................................................................................................................................................. 201
EDITABLE NOTATION MODE................................................................................................................................................... 202
STAFF ROLL NOTATION MODE ............................................................................................................................................... 208
NOTATION WINDOW OPTIONS ................................................................................................................................................ 208
LEAD SHEET WINDOW ............................................................................................................................................................ 212
LYRICS ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 217
PRINTING ................................................................................................................................................................................. 221
CHAPTER 9: AUTOMATIC MUSIC FEATURES ............................................................................................................... 226
AUTOMATIC MEDLEYS - “THE MEDLEY MAKER” ................................................................................................................ 226
AUTOMATIC SONGS - “THE MELODIST” ................................................................................................................................ 226
AUTOMATIC INTRO - SONG INTROS ........................................................................................................................................ 228
AUTOMATIC SONG TITLE GENERATION................................................................................................................................. 229
AUTOMATIC SOUND TRACK GENERATOR - “SOUNDTRACK” ............................................................................................... 229
AUTOMATIC SOLO GENERATION – “THE SOLOIST” .............................................................................................................. 230
AUTO PIANO HAND-SPLITTING ............................................................................................................................................... 234
AUTOMATIC GUITAR SOLOS – “THE GUITARIST” ................................................................................................................. 234
AUTOMATIC EMBELLISHMENTS – “THE EMBELLISHER” ...................................................................................................... 236
CHAPTER 10: WORKING WITH MIDI ............................................................................................................................... 239
RECORDING LIVE IN REAL TIME ............................................................................................................................................ 239
ENTERING NOTES MANUALLY ................................................................................................................................................ 240
RECORDING WITH THE PLAY ALONG WIZARD FEATURE...................................................................................................... 240
MELODY/SOLOIST SEQUENCER .............................................................................................................................................. 241
IMPORTING MIDI FILES ......................................................................................................................................................... 243
ADDITIONAL OPTIONS FOR MELODY/SOLOIST TRACK ......................................................................................................... 244
EDITING MIDI TRACK ............................................................................................................................................................ 245
PIANO ROLL WINDOW ............................................................................................................................................................ 247
CHAPTER 11: WORKING WITH AUDIO ............................................................................................................................ 258
ABOUT BAND-IN-A-BOX AUDIO FILES .................................................................................................................................... 258
IMPORTING AUDIO FILE.......................................................................................................................................................... 259
RECORDING AUDIO ................................................................................................................................................................. 259
AUDIO INPUT MONITORING .................................................................................................................................................... 261
GENERATING SYNTHETIC VOCAL .......................................................................................................................................... 261
EDITING AUDIO - AUDIO EDIT WINDOW ................................................................................................................................ 262
VOLUME AUTOMATION ........................................................................................................................................................... 264
ANALYZING CHORDS IN AUDIO - AUDIO CHORD WIZARD .................................................................................................... 265
HARMONIZING AUDIO ............................................................................................................................................................. 267
APPLYING AUDIO PLUGINS ..................................................................................................................................................... 268
READING THE AUDIO AND MIDI TRACKS INTO OTHER PROGRAMS .................................................................................... 268
CHAPTER 12: WIZARDS, TUTORS, AND FUN .................................................................................................................. 269
VIDEO WINDOW ...................................................................................................................................................................... 269
”WOODSHED” TEMPO FEATURE ............................................................................................................................................ 270
MIDI CHORD WIZARD – INTERPRET CHORDS FROM MIDI FILE ......................................................................................... 270
PRACTICE WINDOW ................................................................................................................................................................ 273
EAR TRAINING TUTOR ............................................................................................................................................................ 274
EAR TRAINING GAMES ............................................................................................................................................................ 276
VOCAL WIZARD ...................................................................................................................................................................... 277
RHYTHM GUITAR CHORD TUTOR .......................................................................................................................................... 278
GUITAR WINDOW .................................................................................................................................................................... 279
BIG PIANO WINDOW ............................................................................................................................................................... 283
DYNAMIC 3D DRUM KIT WINDOW ......................................................................................................................................... 284
CHORD “BREAKS” ................................................................................................................................................................... 286
SCALE WIZARD........................................................................................................................................................................ 286

Table of Contents 5
CHAPTER 13: TOOLS, UTILITIES, AND APPS ................................................................................................................. 288
INSTALL MANAGER ................................................................................................................................................................. 288
FIND FILE ................................................................................................................................................................................ 288
DAW PLUG-IN MODE ............................................................................................................................................................. 289
COYOTEWT ............................................................................................................................................................................ 291
GUITAR/BASS TUNER .............................................................................................................................................................. 293
MASTER TUNING ..................................................................................................................................................................... 293
MIDI MONITOR ...................................................................................................................................................................... 293
FRETLIGHT® SUPPORT ............................................................................................................................................................ 294
TRANZPORT® SUPPORT - WIRELESS REMOTE CONTROL ..................................................................................................... 295
BB REMOTE............................................................................................................................................................................. 296
BAND-IN-A-BOX FOR IPHONE ................................................................................................................................................. 298
CHAPTER 14: USER PROGRAMMABLE FUNCTIONS ................................................................................................... 301
THE STYLEMAKER ................................................................................................................................................................. 301
STYLE WIZARD - CREATE STYLE FROM MIDI FILE ............................................................................................................. 321
MAKING REALDRUMS STYLES ............................................................................................................................................... 325
THE HARMONY MAKER .......................................................................................................................................................... 340
THE SOLOIST MAKER ............................................................................................................................................................. 342
THE MELODIST MAKER .......................................................................................................................................................... 346
THE GUITARIST MAKER ......................................................................................................................................................... 347
CHAPTER 15: REFERENCE .................................................................................................................................................. 349
BAND-IN-A-BOX MENU DESCRIPTIONS .................................................................................................................................. 349
FILE MENU .............................................................................................................................................................................. 349
EDIT MENU .............................................................................................................................................................................. 352
OPTIONS MENU ....................................................................................................................................................................... 355
PLAY MENU ............................................................................................................................................................................. 362
MELODY MENU ....................................................................................................................................................................... 363
SOLOIST MENU ........................................................................................................................................................................ 365
AUDIO MENU ........................................................................................................................................................................... 367
HARMONY MENU .................................................................................................................................................................... 368
WINDOW MENU....................................................................................................................................................................... 368
HELP MENU ............................................................................................................................................................................. 370
SHORTCUTS: KEYSTROKE COMMANDS - HOTKEYS .............................................................................................................. 371
CHORD LIST ............................................................................................................................................................................ 376
BAND-IN-A-BOX FILES AND FOLDERS .................................................................................................................................... 377
PG MUSIC INC. ........................................................................................................................................................................ 379
APPENDIX A: REALTRACKS SETS .................................................................................................................................... 380
APPENDIX B: MIDI SUPERTRACKS SETS ........................................................................................................................ 423
INDEX ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 427
PG MUSIC REGISTRATION FORM..................................................................................................................................... 434

6 Table of Contents
 Chapter 1: Welcome to Band-in-a-Box®!
Congratulations on your purchase of Band-in-a-Box, the favorite of musicians, students, and songwriters everywhere. Get ready
to have fun!
What is Band-in-a-Box?
Band-in-a-Box is an intelligent automatic accompaniment program for your multimedia computer.
You can hear and play along to many song ideas and go from “nothing” to “something” in a very short period
of time with Band-in-a-Box as your “on demand” backup band.
Band-in-a-Box is so easy to use!
Just type in the chords for any song using standard chord symbols (like C, Fm7, or C13b9), choose the style you’d like, and
Band-in-a-Box does the rest, automatically generating a complete professional-quality arrangement of piano, bass, drums,
guitar, and strings or horns in a wide variety of popular styles plus live audio tracks with RealDrums and RealTracks.
And that’s not all...
Band-in-a-Box is a powerful and creative music composition tool for exploring and developing musical ideas with near-
instantaneous feedback. Over the years many features have been added to Band-in-a-Box – Notation and Lyrics, Piano Roll, 16-
channel MIDI multi-tracks, harmonization, the StyleMaker and StylePicker, a live performance Conductor window, Medley
Maker, and 24-substyle MultiStyles. The Soloist and the Melodist are popular “intelligent” features that generate professional
solos or even create whole new songs from scratch. RealDrums add the human element of a live drummer while RealTracks add
even more live session musicians, bringing the entire Band-in-a-Box arrangement to life. You can even record your own
UserTracks and Band-in-a-Box will play them just like RealTracks! Or use the MIDI SuperTracks for MIDI tracks with a “real
feel” that you can edit and arrange. The Audio Chord Wizard has the amazing ability to analyze, extract, and show the chords
from audio recordings on-screen and then write them to the Band-in-a-Box Chord Sheet.
The inclusion of digital audio features makes Band-in-a-Box the perfect tool for creating, playing, and recording your music
with MIDI, vocals, and acoustic instruments. Band-in-a-Box can also record an acoustic instrument or voice to add to the
composition, with processing through its own DirectX audio effects. Its audio harmonies will turn your audio track into multiple
harmony parts or adjust its pitch. Use the Mixer window to select parts, set levels, and create a polished final mix.
You can print out your finished creation with lyrics, chords, repeats and endings, DC markings, and codas, or save it as a
graphics file for web publication or to e-mail to a friend. And when you are ready to let others hear your composition, you can
burn it directly to an audio CD. Or save your composition as a Windows® Media File (or in any other compressed formats you
have) for a file that’s “Internet ready.”
You will have even more fun making automatic medleys, playing your favorite song lists in the Band-in-a-Box Jukebox, and
singing along to your Karaoke files with CDG graphics.
Let’s get started!
This is a comprehensive guide to the program, including information not included in the printed manual. We will begin with the
easy installation and setup procedure.

Installing Band-in-a-Box for Windows®

Minimum System Requirements
Windows® 7 / 8 / 10 / 11 (32 or 64-bit)
Minimum 1 GB RAM (2 GB+ recommended)
Minimum 1.0 GHz processor (2 GHz+ multicore recommended)
Disk space required for the installation depends mainly on how many RealTracks Sets and other content you install.
- A basic installation of Band-in-a-Box (with the included MIDI SuperTracks, Artist Performances, MIDI Styles, Soloists, and
Melodists), and RealBand requires about 3 GB of free hard disk space.
- A full installation of Band-in-a-Box, RealBand, and all of the RealTracks included in the Pro version requires about 30 GB of
hard disk space. 40 GB is required for the MegaPAK version.
- If you have additional RealTracks Sets, they require about 100-350 MB per set on average.
- If you install additional Video RealTracks Sets, they require about 2 GB per set on average.
- A full installation of Band-in-a-Box, RealBand and all RealTracks available (UltraPAK or UltraPAK+) requires close to 170
GB of hard disk space.
1024x768 screen resolution (1360x768+ recommended)
USB port for the USB flash drive version of the MegaPAK or Pro.
USB port for the USB hard drive version of the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
A MIDI sound source is required. This could be a sound card, a MIDI keyboard, MIDI sound module, or software synthesizer.
Internet connection recommended for activation and updates.

Chapter 1: Welcome to Band-in-a-Box! 7

Installing the Program
Use one of the following methods to install the program files into the Band-in-a-Box directory. By default, this directory is
C:\bb, but you may choose another location. If you have a previous version of Band-in-a-Box installed on your computer, you
should install the files to your existing Band-in-a-Box directory.
Installing from the Downloaded Installer Files
If you ordered the e-delivery, download all installer files from the link provided. Double-click on each file to run the installation
program.
You can also use the one-click Install Manager to download and install the entire package of your order. This is a much simpler
alternative to manually downloading and installing all the files individually that are listed on the “My Products” page in your
account. This is particularly useful for “download-only” (e-delivery) versions of the Band-in-a-Box Pro, Mega, and UltraPAK,
since there can be 100 GB of files to download and install. (Note: If you selected the download-only option during checkout and
are having trouble getting your files, you could contact us to have a physical copy shipped.)
Note: More documentation for the Install Manager is available at https://www.pgmusic.com/download-manager-help.htm
Installing from the USB Flash Drive
Connect the USB flash drive to the USB port. The Windows® AutoPlay should open the drive and show you the contents. If the
drive does not automatically open, find the drive in the Windows® Explorer and double-click on the flash drive icon to open it.
Double-click on a setup file to run the installation program.
Installing from the USB Hard Drive
Larger versions of Band-in-a-Box ship on portable USB hard drives. You can run Band-in-a-Box and RealBand directly from
the hard drive by using the program shortcuts. Before you use the programs, you should double-click on Setup.exe. This will set
up any files that need to be installed/registered on your computer.
Note: Before unplugging the hard drive from your computer, make sure it is not in use, then click on the “Safely Remove Hardware” icon in
your taskbar. When you plug the drive in, Windows® may prompt you to select an appropriate action - if so, select “Open folder to view files.”

MIDI Setup
Band-in-a-Box uses the multimedia drivers for your MIDI interface and/or sound card that are supported by the Windows®
operating system. To get sound playback you need to have a MIDI (and audio - for songs with digital audio, RealDrums, and
RealTracks) driver installed.
To start using the program you will need to make sure that your MIDI interface, audio driver, and Windows® sound source are
installed and configured.
Run the program by double-clicking the program icon.
To check your MIDI driver setup, press the [MIDI] toolbar icon and select the menu item MIDI/Audio Drivers Setup.
This will open the MIDI/Audio Drivers Setup dialog. You can also go to Options | MIDI/Audio Driver Setup to open
this dialog.

Select a MIDI Output Driver to use for MIDI sound playback and optionally a MIDI Input Driver if you are using an
external MIDI controller keyboard or guitar. If the setup is panned to mono, the program offers to change it to stereo.
Perhaps the easiest way to configure Band-in-a-Box is to press the [Run Driver Wizard] button. The MIDI Output Driver
Wizard dialog will take you step-by-step through the process of auditioning and selecting an appropriate driver. This assumes
that the appropriate Windows® sound drivers are installed and correctly configured.

8 Chapter 1: Welcome to Band-in-a-Box!

Output to Software Synthesizers (DXi and VSTi)
Software synthesizers allow Band-in-a-Box to play high quality sounds directly through your computer sound card, without
requiring any external MIDI hardware. Most new software synthesizers are released as “plug-ins,” so they will work in a
standard way with many programs. Connecting Band-in-a-Box to the software synth as a plug-in provides several advantages
over the previous method of connecting as a MIDI driver. The plug-in allows Band-in-a-Box to merge/sync in any existing
audio file (vocals etc.) with the synth output. You can also directly render your performance to a .WAV file using the plug-in.
Sampler-based synths allow you to assemble a huge, customized library of instrument samples to use with Band-in-a-Box.
Check the Use VSTi/DXi Synth checkbox to enable VSTi/DXi playback. While using VSTi or
DXi, all playback information is routed to the VSTi/DXi, including the option to route the Thru
track from your MIDI keyboard to the VSTi/DXi synth.
Note: To use this option, you must have a polyphonic VSTi/DXi synthesizer installed on your computer, such as the CoyoteWT. It will also be
most convenient if your VSTi/DXi synthesizer can use General MIDI or GM2 patches.
The current VSTi or DXi synth name is displayed in the [VSTi/DXi Synth] button. You can
change the synth by pressing this button and selecting a synth from the list.
Support for 64-bit VST Plugins using jBridge
You can use your 64-bit VST plugins and VSTi instruments with Band-in-a-Box, using jBridge. Since Band-in-a-Box has built-
in support for jBridge, you just use your plugins as you normally would, by selecting 32- or 64-bit plugins within Band-in-a-
Box. (Note: jBridge is a third-party product.)
To use 64-bit plugins with Band-in-a-Box, you:
1. Get and install jBridge,
2. Select and use your 64- or 32-bit plugins within Band-in-a-Box, without any further setup or configuration!
VSTSynthFont64
The 64-bit version of Band-in-a-Box allows you to use the VSTSynthFont64 as the General MIDI (GM) synth. With the
VSTSynthFont64, you can use any GM soundfont or DLS files, including larger ones over 2 GB.
To use it as a default synth, press the [VSTi/DXi Synth] button in the MIDI/Audio Drivers Setup dialog. Then select the
“<VSTi> SynthFont: VSTSynthFont64” from the list.
Note: If VSTSynthFont64 is not listed, close the dialog and go to the Mixer.
Then click on a plugin in the Plugins tab and select Plugins Settings from
the menu. When the Plugins Options dialog opens, press the [Add
Plugins] button, select + Scan for VSTPlugins in a Specific Directory from
the menu, and select C:\bb\Data\Libx64.
Tip: You can drop VST plugins (.dll files) onto this dialog to add them to the
plugin lists.

When the VSTSynthFont64ynth is selected, its name shows in the [VSTi/DXi Synth] button.
SynthMaster Player
This award-winning synth by KV331 Audio has thousands of presets that are especially useful for modern, techno and
arpeggiator sounds.
Note: SynthMaster VST is a 64-bit plugin only. There is no 32-bit version available.

Chapter 1: Welcome to Band-in-a-Box! 9

SynthMaster is installed to the following folders by default:
C:\Program Files\KV331 Audio
C:\Program Files\VSTPlugins\KV331 Audio
To use SynthMaster as a default synth, press the [VSTi/DXi Synth] button.
SynthMaster is automatically added to the plugin list. Simply
select “<VSTi> JV331 Audio: SynthMaster 2 Player” from the list
and press OK.

When SynthMaster is selected as a default synth, its name shows in the [VSTi/DXi Synth]
button.
Driver Latency
Software synthesizers have some inherent latency, which is the delay between the time a
note is played and it is processed by the computer. Older soft synths had noticeable latency,
whereas a VSTi/DXi synth using ASIO drivers has very little. This setting is used to
synchronize the visual display (notation, chords, virtual piano etc.) with the sound you hear.
Band-in-a-Box automatically sets the latency for VSTi/DXi and some other soft synths.
The [Latency Adjust] button opens the Soft Synth Latency Adjust dialog where you can manually adjust the latency.
Alternate Patch Maps
You can choose the patch map (instrument list) that matches your synthesizer keyboard or sound module. Original equipment
sound cards or integrated sound chips are General MIDI (GM) compatible.
We have made preset drum/patch files for many synthesizers and sound
cards. If your synth is not listed, you should use the General MIDI
Instrument Misc. patch kit (default).
You can probably omit this step unless you are using an old synth that is not
General MIDI compatible. If your non-GM synthesizer or sound card is not
listed, you can easily make your own patch map with the [Patch Map]
button in Options | Preferences.

10 Chapter 1: Welcome to Band-in-a-Box!

General MIDI 2 (GM2) Support
General MIDI 2 patches are supported for 128 additional instruments. The type of GM2
support is set in this dialog.

The GM2 support choices are:

- General MIDI 2 support: If you’re using a newer Sound Canvas (i.e., newer than 1999, or newer than the Roland SC88),
then choose this GM2 support.
- Roland GS (older Modules): “Older” Sound Canvases (SC55/SC88) support GS, but not GM2. The good news is that they
have the same patches available, just at different locations. So, if you choose this option, Band-in-a-Box will find the patches
at the “GS” locations instead of the “GM2” locations. If you have a newer GS module like the SC8820, it supports both GM2
and GS - you should likely choose GM2.
- No GM2 support: Some sound cards don’t have GM2 support, but they do support the original 128 General MIDI sounds.
Band-in-a-Box will use the closest instrument in these cases.

Audio Setup
The [Audio Settings] button in the MIDI/Audio Drivers Setup displays the current audio driver and
status (WAS/MME/ASIO).
Band-in-a-Box performs the audio setup automatically using the installed system audio components.
To restore or modify this setup, click on the [Prefs] button and then click on the [Audio] tab to launch the
Audio Settings dialog. You can also select the Audio | Audio Drivers/Settings menu item.

Audio Driver Type: You will see the following options for
Audio Driver Type: MME, ASIO, or WAS. MME is the
default audio driver type that is used in Windows®. MME is
good, but there is latency (delay) associated with MME
drivers. ASIO is a faster audio driver developed by
Steinberg. It has much lower latency than ordinary MME
drivers, but usually can be used by one program at a time.
WAS (Windows® Audio Session) has ultra-low latency (<
25 ms on a typical Windows® PC), so audio operations like
playing or sending out information via MIDI happen with
no noticeable delay.
The DMA Size and DMA Offset settings are set
automatically by the auto-testing of the sound card. The
default value for all of these settings is 0 (zero). You can
override these settings if required, but it is usually not
necessary.
The Offset in mS is not a setting that gets set automatically. It defaults to zero. This allows you to adjust the timing that the
sound card plays audio in relation to MIDI. Normally you’d leave this at zero, but if you need to fine tune the synchronization of
audio to MIDI you could try changing this setting.
Audio Latency in mS: DirectX audio plug-ins and DXi synthesizer plug-ins can have playback latency (the delay between
when a note is played, and when it is heard). Adjust “Audio Latency in mS” to fine-tune for your computer. If you have a fast
computer and excellent sound card, the audio latency can be adjusted rather low. However, if you hear audio dropouts, you can
set the latency as high as 2000 milliseconds.
Display warnings for detected audio stuttering: This option is visible only when MME is selected for the audio driver type. If
this is enabled, then when audio stuttering is detected, a flash message will be displayed after playback has stopped.
Preferred default track type for new songs: This setting sets the default recording type (mono/stereo) for new songs that you
record. For example, if you have a stereo microphone, you should likely record in stereo.
Record using: This allows you to choose channels to record audio from. You can record from the left only, right only, or both.
If you are using both channels and your audio track is mono, then the left and right channels will be mixed to one channel.
When opening songs, show message if WAV file not found: A Band-in-a-Box song called “My Song.MGU” will have the
associated wave file called “My Song.wav.” If Band-in-a-Box loads this song file and it can’t find its associated file, it will put
up a message to that effect. If the warning message is distracting, and for some reason you don’t have the wave files that were
recorded with the songs then you can disable that message with this option box (disable).
Peak Limit Enable: Check this to restrict excessive levels from being recorded (Filter).

Chapter 1: Welcome to Band-in-a-Box! 11

Mixer requires keystrokes to open Record Panel: If you are running Windows® 95, check this box to allow access to the
Record Panel from Band-in-a-Box. Do not check if using Windows® 98 or greater.
Correct RealDrums Sync for ASIO with hardware modules: Some systems have a sync problem when using RealDrums
with hardware modules (zero latency). If this is set, the sync problem is fixed as the song starts to play (bar 1).
Windows® Audio Session (WAS)
Band-in-a-Box supports Windows® Audio Session (WAS) driver, an alternative to ASIO (a driver with low latency, but usually
can be used by one program at a time) or MME (an older driver with worse latency). The WAS driver has ultra-low latency (<
25 ms on a typical Windows® PC), so audio operations like playing or sending out information via MIDI happen with no
noticeable delay.
When you boot up Band-in-a-Box, it will be already set to use the WAS driver. If you want to change the settings, open the
Windows Audio Devices dialog. The dialog will open if you press the [Audio Drivers] button in the Audio Settings dialog
when the “WAS” is selected for the Audio Driver Type.
Input Device: This is the audio input device that
will be used for recording a voice or an instrument.
If you have multiple devices installed in your
system, you can choose a device from the list.
Output Device: This is the audio output device
that will be used for playing sound. If you have
multiple devices installed in your system, you can
choose a device from the list.
Use Default Input Device: If this option is
enabled, the recording device selected as the
default device in your Windows® Sound Control
Panel will be used.
Use Default Output Device: If this option is
enabled, the playback device selected as the
default device in your Windows® Sound Control
Panel will be used.
Input Resampling Quality / Output Resampling Quality: You can choose a quality level for resampling. “Low” will improve
performance if necessary, but “High” will sound best.
Exclusive mode: Use the exclusive mode if you want Band-in-a-Box to take full control over the audio device(s). In this mode,
other applications might not be able to use the audio devices, so we recommend you do not use this mode.
Output always on: If this is enabled, sound will always be sent to the device. If this is disabled, sound will be sent to the device
only when the song is playing. Enable this option if you want MIDI plugins to work when the song is not playing.
Latency in milliseconds: This is the delay between when sound is sent from Band-in-a-Box and when you actually hear it by
the audio device. Increase this setting if you are hearing sound glitches during playback.
[Open Windows Sound Control Panel] will open the Windows® Sound Control Panel. You can change your device settings
by clicking on [Properties] > [Advanced]. For the “Default Format,” a setting of 44100 Hz is best for Band-in-a-Box.
ASIO Audio/Software Synth Drivers
ASIO drivers allows for much lower latency than ordinary MME drivers do.
Note: Most low-end sound cards do not include an ASIO driver, so you may not have an ASIO driver yet. In this case, you need to get an
ASIO driver from the Internet.
The ASIO Audio Drivers dialog lets you choose an ASIO driver.

12 Chapter 1: Welcome to Band-in-a-Box!

The Select one ASIO Driver list box lets you select an ASIO driver to use. You can only select one ASIO driver at a time.
Once you have selected an ASIO driver, you will see the Input Port and Output Port list boxes filled with your driver’s input
and output ports. By default, the first of each will be selected. You are allowed to select different ports (but only one input and
one output port at a time can be selected). The ports you selected will be available for output within Band-in-a-Box. If you do
not hear input or output, then you may need to try different ports than the defaults. You may need to read your sound card’s
instructions to determine the correct ports to use.
Tip: The ASIO4All driver sometimes cannot connect if the Microsoft GS Wavetable synth is being used as a driver. So, if this happens, you will
get a message that ASIO will be silent, and the solution is to de-select the ASIO4All driver.
The [ASIO Driver’s Control Panel] button launches the Control Panel for your driver. This usually lets you adjust the latency
by letting you choose different buffer sizes in milliseconds. Some drivers might let you choose the buffer size in samples, which
is less convenient than milliseconds. The smaller the buffer size, the lower the latency, and the faster the response. Smaller
buffers require more CPU power and if you hear dropouts or artifacts, you may need to increase the buffer size. See the
Understanding Latency section that follows.
Since many ASIO drivers do not support multiple sample rates, Band-in-a-Box has a built-in resampler which lets you play and
record songs that have a different sampling rate than the rate(s) directly supported by your ASIO driver. For example, if the
driver does not support 44.1K sampling rate, but supports 48K, then Band-in-a-Box will use the resampler to convert to 48K
when playing back, and to convert FROM 48K when recording. The Resampler Quality combo lets you choose Fast, Good,
Better, or Best. Fast is the quickest but is the lowest of the four levels of quality. Best is the slowest (uses more CPU time), but
the most transparent and accurate quality.
The [ASIO Driver’s Control Panel] button launches a settings dialog specifically provided by your driver manufacturer. This
usually lets you adjust the latency, and usually you will have a choice between buffer sizes in milliseconds. See the following
section on Understanding Latency.
Show Warning for Untested Soundcard Formats is an optional setting that shows a warning if your ASIO driver format has
not been tested in Band-in-a-Box. It does not necessarily mean your driver will not work.
The Driver Info field shows various characteristics of your driver.
The Name is the driver’s name.
The Version is the version number of your driver.
Input Channels is the total number of mono input channels that your sound card has.
Note: Band-in-a-Box groups each Input and Output channel into a stereo pair.
Output Channels is the total number of mono output channels that your sound card has.
The Allowed Sample Rates field shows the sample rates are allowed by your sound card’s ASIO driver. Band-in-a-Box has a
built-in resampler which lets you play and record files that aren’t directly supported by your ASIO driver.
The Buffer Sizes In Samples shows the range of allowed buffer sizes. The “Pref” is the preferred size, and this is the size that
Band-in-a-Box uses. Your driver may alter the preferred size if you’ve launched the ASIO Driver Control Panel and have
selected a new buffer size from within the driver’s Control Panel. If your driver changes the preferred size, then Band-in-a-Box
will be aware of the new preferred size.

Chapter 1: Welcome to Band-in-a-Box! 13

MME Audio Drivers
MME is the default audio driver type that is used in Windows®. MME is good, but there is latency (delay) associated with MME
drivers.
Choose MME as the “Audio Driver Type” and click on the [Audio Drivers] button to select which audio driver to use. This
launches the Audio Drivers dialog.
The Output always on option allows you to use VSTi or DXi at all
times, so MIDI can be routed and heard using these plugins when the
program is stopped.

Understanding Latency
Latency is based on the buffer sizes. The smaller the buffer sizes the lower the latency. Lower latency allows you to hear mixer
volume changes very quickly, as well as hear MIDI thru echoed out via a DXi soft synth practically in real time. The latency, in
MS is determined by the buffer size in samples, as well as the driver’s sampling rate.
Note: If your ASIO driver’s control panel lets you select the buffer size in MS, then you don’t have to pay much attention to the part of
discussion below about converting samples to MS.
Converting Samples to MS: For example, suppose the driver’s sample rate is 48K. A 48K sampling rate means that it is
playing at 48,000 samples per second. If the buffer size were 48000 samples, then the latency would be 1 second, or 1000ms
(which is very large and slow, and usually not allowed in ASIO). If the buffer size were 4800 samples, which is 1/10 second,
then the latency would be 100ms. If the buffer size were 2400 samples, which is 1/20 second, the latency would be 50 ms. If the
buffer size were 240 samples, which is 1/200 second, the latency would be a mere 5ms which is incredibly low and very fast.
Normally, you can change your driver’s latency by pressing the Launch ASIO Driver’s Control Panel button. Normally, the
driver specifies the buffer sizes in milliseconds which is equal to the latency.
Low latency is faster and more responsive but uses more CPU power.
Depending on the speed of your computer, you may find that the playback has dropouts, clicks/pops, or other artifacts if you set
the buffer sizes too small. This is because smaller buffers use more CPU power and if your computer can’t handle the low
latency you will hear artifacts. If this happens, you would need to use larger buffer sizes. You may need to experiment to find
what works well. You may be able to use smaller buffers with songs that don’t have a lot of tracks and effects but may find that
you need to use larger buffers with songs that have more tracks and use more effects. This is because more tracks and more
effects use more CPU power, which leaves less CPU power available for the audio routines to keep up with lower latencies.
Sample Rate Detection Warning
Windows 7 has a peculiar issue where if you choose Windows® Start button - Control Panel - “Sound,” right-click on your
output device, choose “Properties” and then “Advanced,” you can see the default format. It should be 44100 Hz. Unfortunately,
some apps change this setting without your knowledge. When it is set like this, all of your audio gets “resampled” and this can
create obvious audible artifacts and make some things sound “bad.”
Band-in-a-Box detects this setting when you exit the MIDI/Audio
Drivers Setup dialog, and will give you a notification about it, and
that’s a clue for you to visit this dialog and set it back to 44100 Hz.

Have fun!

14 Chapter 1: Welcome to Band-in-a-Box!

 Chapter 2: QuickStart
Creating music with Band-in-a-Box is as easy as 1-2-3! Here’s how.

Step 1 – Type in the Chords

There are numerous ways of entering chords into Band-in-a-Box; we will discuss the two most common methods.
1. Using the Computer Keyboard
2. Playing directly on a MIDI Controller Keyboard
On the main screen of the program, you will see an area called the Chord Sheet.

Each of the numbered cells on the Chord Sheet represents a bar. In this example, we see that there is an E chord in the first bar
of this song, an A chord in bar 5, and later in the song, an E7 in bar 12. Notice the box in the first half of bar 1. This is the
highlight cell, and it represents the bar you are currently working on. You can move the highlight cell around using the cursor
keys or click on any bar with the mouse.
Enter Chords Using the Computer Keyboard
To enter a specific chord, move the highlight cell to where you want to place the chord. For example, to add (or change) a chord
in bar 10, you would highlight bar 10 on the Chord Sheet. Next, type in your chords. If you want an A chord at bar 10, type the
A key on your keyboard, and press Enter. Notice that when you use the Enter key, the highlight cell moves to the second half
of the bar. You could then enter another chord at beat 3. Chords names are normally typed using standard chord symbols (like C
or Fm7 or Bb7 or Bb13#9/E), but you can enter them in other chord formats like Roman Numerals, Nashville Notation,
Solfeggio, and Fixed Do (popular in Italy and Europe).
Enter Chords Using a MIDI Controller Keyboard
If you have a MIDI controller keyboard, you can use it to enter chords into Band-in-a-Box. Play a chord on your MIDI
keyboard, and then type Ctrl+Enter. The chord will be entered into the Chord Sheet at the current highlight cell position.

Step 2 – Choose a Style

Band-in-a-Box creates backing arrangements based on the chords you type in, playing them in a particular style.
What’s a Style?
A style is a set of rules that determine how Band-in-a-Box creates music using your chords. There is a huge collection of styles
in all musical genres, with both RealTracks audio and MIDI.
Opening a Style
You can open a style using the [Style] button. This is a split button, with the top half being the default function, and the
bottom half listing different methods to load a style and allows you to set the default.
Selecting a Style using the StylePicker
The StylePicker window lists all styles with full information. It has a great filter feature for finding a perfect style for your song
by selecting elements such as time signature, feel, or tempo, or by simply typing in a familiar song title.
You can browse styles by sorting columns or hear an “instant” preview by double-clicking on the list. If style has both MIDI
and RealDrums available, you can hear both, and choose which one you want. This makes it much faster to find the style that
fits your song.
Tip: You can quickly launch the StylePicker by S Enter, S 1 Enter or Ctrl+F9 keys.

Chapter 2: QuickStart 15
Step 3 – Play your song!
To play your song you will need to tell Band-in-a-Box how long the song is, how many times to play it through, in what key,
and how fast.
Framing the Song

Setting the Chorus

To tell Band-in-a-Box where to start and end the song, locate the framing buttons. There are three of
them, one each for Start of Chorus, End of Chorus, and Number of Choruses. In the example shown, the
chorus starts at bar 1, ends on bar 32, and is going to play 3 times.
Tip: By default, new songs default to 32 bars and 1 chorus, but you can change this default in the Arrangement Options dialog.
Setting the Key
The Key button is used to set the key or to change it and transpose the song. When you press it, you see 2 columns of
keys. The first column will set the key AND transpose the song; the second will just set the key signature. Clicking on
the small number will show a menu for the visual transpose settings.
Setting the Tempo
The Tempo Control shows the current song tempo. Left-click on the up/down arrows to change the tempo by +/- 5
beats per minute. Right-click to change it by +/- 1 bpm. Tempos can also be typed in directly. You can also use
hotkeys: [ to decrease the tempo by 5 and ] to increase the tempo by 5.
This button allows you to quickly set the relative tempo. Click on the button and choose a percentage or use the Custom
Tempo % menu item to set any value between 1% and 800%. 1% would be 1/100 of the original tempo and 800% would
be 8 times the original tempo. Hotkeys are available: Ctrl - (minus key) for half speed and Ctrl = for normal speed.
Use the Tap tempo buttons to count and set a tempo. Tap the [-] button in tempo four times to set the tempo. It will appear
in the tempo box. Tap the [=] button to count-in the song and start playback at the tapped tempo. As you tap more than 4
times, the accuracy will improve (through averaging) and you can continue to tap until the target tempo has been reached.
For example, in a 4/4/ style, once you tap 4 times a tempo will be set. But you can keep tapping and the tempo will change
every beat, based on the average tempo that you have typed.
Shortcuts for song formatting
B E G I N Enter Sets the beginning of the chorus to the current bar.
C H O R U S E N D Enter Sets the end of the chorus to the current bar.
E N D Enter Sets the end of the song to the current bar.
T K C Enter Sets the key signature to C. (T K B B Enter would set it to Bb.)
T R C Enter Transposes song to key of C.

16 Chapter 2: QuickStart
T 1 2 5 Enter Sets the tempo to 125.
[ Decreases the tempo by 5.
] Increases the tempo by 5.
Press Play
When you’re ready, just press the [Play] button or the F4 function key and Band-in-a-Box will immediately generate and play a
professional arrangement of your song using the settings and the style you selected. You can double-click on any bar in the
Chord Sheet, including the tag or ending, to start playback from that bar.
More fun with Band-in-a-Box…
That’s how easy it is to start creating music with Band-in-a-Box, but it’s just the beginning. Band-in-a-Box is jam-packed with
features, helpers, and user options, so read on and keep having fun!

Feature Browser
Clicking on the [?] button on the main screen or pressing the / Enter keys on the Chord Sheet opens the Feature
Browser.
This dialog lists many features in Band-in-a-Box and allows you to browse them, find the feature by text filter, read descriptions
about the feature, find how to launch the feature, access to the online information or video about the feature, and do more.

In the dialog, you will see:

- Text filter.
- Info on how to launch the feature from the toolbar, menu, hotkeys and/or other means.
- Memo with description about the feature.
- [Manual] button that links to online information about the feature.
- [Video] button to launch a video. (Tip: over 80 topics have videos, and you can type the word “video” in the filter to find
them.)
- A graphic showing the feature.
- [Do It] button that will launch the feature.
This dialog helps in the following situations.
- You know about a feature but don’t know how to find it. Just type a part of the feature name and you’ll see the hotkeys, menu,
and toolbar info on how to launch it. For example, if you want to launch the Chord Builder but don’t know how to do it, type
“builder” in the text filter, and you will quickly find the Chord Builder.
- You are exploring available features for Band-in-a-Box. For example, if you are a guitar player, type the word “guitar” and
you’ll see what’s available.
- You prefer “one-stop-shopping” and would like to launch features from the same dialog.
- You are learning the program and like to browse or watch videos about topics you’re interested in.
- You can’t remember hotkeys and want to review them.

Chapter 2: QuickStart 17
 Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box 2023
Band-in-a-Box 2023 for Windows® is here!
We’ve been busy and added over 70 new features and an amazing collection of new content, including MIDI SuperTracks,
Instrumental Studies, “Song with Vocals” Artist Performances, Xtra Styles PAK 14 & 15, Playable RealTracks Set 2,
Playable RealDrums Set 1 & 2, new sets of “RealDrums Stems” and more!
There’s more great news! Version 2023 UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile users get all 222 new RealTracks with 150+
RealStyles and Pro users get 45 new RealTracks and 80 new RealStyles with the RealCombos Booster PAK 2. That’s more
RealTracks and RealStyles for everyone!
We have Bonus PAKs with 60 RealTracks (20 more than we’ve released in previous versions!) in addition to the 222 new
RealTracks, so in total an amazing 282 new RealTracks and RealDrums are available! There are 404 new “Playable
RealTracks” Hi-Q sounds, which match many of our RealTracks, so you can easily switch from RealTracks parts to MIDI
notes while maintaining the instrument sound! ALL Playable RealTracks and RealDrums now also have audio demos. The
Bonus PAKs also include 2 new Artist Performance Sets, containing over 50 original songs with vocal performances by a
variety of talented singers! There are also Instrumental Studies Sets including Rockin’ Blues Soloing and more Classic
Country Guitar Soloing. There are also new RealDrums Stems, which allow you to access the individual wave files from
each different mic used to record many of our most popular RealDrums! There are also over 30 new MIDI SuperTracks,
including styles designed to work with the new SynthMaster Player plugin included with Band-in-a-Box 2023!
In addition, there are over 100 new RealStyles that use the new RealTracks. These include new jazz, fusion and funk styles that
feature legendary drummer Mike Clark! We have lots of requested blues styles, including new guitar and harmonica with
Pat Bergeson, lap steel with Rob Ickes & Eddy Dunlap, and more blues with Nashville great Johnny Hiland. We’ve also
expanded our Bossa piano soloing, with styles using both soloing and left-hand comping. There are also exciting new Funk &
Soul Horn Section and requested Latin pop styles. In the “pop, rock, & world” category, we’ve added many requested
“southern soul” drums, guitar, and bass. There are also requested Prog-Rock styles, as well as “80s” New Wave Guitars.
There are new exciting Boogie & Gospel Piano with Nashville great Kevin McKendree. There are vocal Doo-Wop styles, as
well as Modern Pop. There are also requested Metal styles featuring new drums, basses and guitar, and the guitars are all “12-
key,” meaning Band-in-a-Box does not need to use any pitch shifting on the audio, making for a more consistent tone no matter
what chords you enter. And we’ve also included requested World Styles, expanding our collection of Sitar, Tabla and Dholak.
For country, americana and Celtic, we’ve greatly expanded our extremely popular “Producer” “Explosive” Country Guitar
Styles with three sets of radio-friendly guitars from Nashville legend Brent Mason, designed to be layered into a polished
“produced” sound. We’ve also added more indie-folk, singer songwriter styles, requested autoharp styles, and more contradance
piano & guitar. The 2023 Bonus 49-PAK includes even 60 more RealTracks, including Nashville “Producer” Guitars, more
Rock & Soul Organ, piano, requested bongo RealDrums, and a RealTracks first: Erhu! This requested instrument originated
in China, and is similar to a violin. And there are new requested Reggaeton & K-Pop RealDrums, more fusion drums from
Mike Clark, and more Soul Guitar & Horns!

Band-in-a-Box 2023 Features and Additions

There are over 70 New Features in Band-in-a-Box 2023. This includes Many Major New Features. First, there are Partial
Track Re-Generations, with an on-screen Regeneration Panel and an Always Different setting to get up to 40 variations on
any RealTracks. Undo - Track Generation and Undo - Song Generation is added. You can now copy, cut, paste, delete,
insert, and do other editing functions to the RealTracks/RealDrums tracks, while preserving the ability for the tracks to re-
generate new material. Auto-Save Song prevents data loss. Playable Tracks are enhanced for Playable RealTracks (404 new
Sforzando sounds, 700 total - all with Audio Demos), and now include Playable RealDrums, MIDI SuperTracks and
MIDI tracks. There are now RealTracks Stems, separate isolated tracks available for multi-track RealTracks like Horns (e.g.,
Crooner, Blues), Vocals, and String Quartets. Master Track Volume Automation for fadeouts, crescendos etc. added.
SynthMaster® Player synth included, with modern/techno sounds. Audio Input monitoring to hear your audio input (e.g.,
electric guitar with effects) through to Audio Out. Arpeggiator sounds available. EZ Selection of your
RealTracks/RealDrums Folders. Help for “Style not Found” providing info and lists of substitutes. Generate Intros using
Song Chords. RealDrums Fills control, Enhancements for StylePicker - Preview, Prototypes and Rebuild. And more!
Additional New Content Available for Band-in-a-Box 2023
- 60 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks
- 34 MIDI SuperTracks
- 30 All-MIDI Styles
- 12 Instrumental Studies
- 50 Artist Performances
- 50+ RealDrums Stems
- 10 Playable RealDrums, with Audio Demos
- 400+ Additional Audio Demos for Playable RealTracks

18 Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box 2023

- 700+ Audio Demos for All New and Existing Playable RealTracks
- SynthMaster Sounds and Styles, with Audio Demos
- RealCombos Booster PAK
- XPro Styles PAK 4
- Xtra Styles PAK 14
- Xtra Styles PAK 15
222 NEW RealTracks
Band-in-a-Box 2023 contains an amazing assortment of new RealTracks & RealDrums! These include new jazz, fusion
and funk styles that feature legendary drummer Mike Clark! We have lots of requested blues styles, including new guitar and
harmonica with Pat Bergeson, lap steel with Rob Ickes & Eddy Dunlap, and more blues with Nashville great Johnny Hiland.
We’ve also expanded our Bossa piano soloing, with styles using both soloing and left-hand comping. There are also exciting
new Funk & Soul Horn Section and requested Latin pop styles. In the “pop, rock, & world” category, we’ve added many
requested “southern soul” drums, guitar, and bass. There are also requested Prog-Rock styles, as well as “80s” New Wave
Guitars. There are new exciting Boogie & Gospel Piano with Nashville great Kevin McKendree. There are vocal Doo-Wop
styles, as well as Modern Pop. There are also requested Metal styles featuring new drums, basses and guitar, and the guitars
are all “12-key,” meaning Band-in-a-Box does not need to use any pitch shifting on the audio, making for a more consistent
tone no matter what chords you enter. And we’ve also included requested World Styles, expanding our collection of Sitar,
Tabla And Dholak. For country, americana and Celtic, we’ve greatly expanded our extremely popular “Producer”
“Explosive” Country Guitar Styles with three sets of radio-friendly guitars from Nashville legend Brent Mason, designed to
be layered into a polished “produced” sound. We’ve also added more indie-folk, singer songwriter styles, requested autoharp
styles, and more contradance piano & guitar. The 2023 Bonus 49-PAK includes even 60 more RealTracks, including Nashville
“Producer” Guitars, more Rock & Soul Organ, piano, requested bongo RealDrums, and a RealTracks first: Erhu! This requested
instrument originated in China, and is similar to a violin. And there are new requested Reggaeton & K-Pop RealDrums, more
fusion drums from Mike Clark, and more Soul Guitar & Horns!
- 77 Jazz, Blues, Funk & Funk RealTracks (Sets 401-411): Our new Jazz, Blues, Funk, and Latin RealTracks include new
drums with Mike Clark for Fusion, Funk, Swing, and more! We’ve got you covered with new funk, blues, 2-handed bossa
piano soloing, organ soloing & comping with Charles Treadway, and gritty blues harmonica with Pat Bergeson that pairs well
with the new gritty blues guitar with Johnny Hiland! There’s also new RealDrums, electric guitar, and acoustic piano all
playing in a Latin style by Miles Black, Mike Durham, and Wes Little, and more!
- 78 Pop, Rock & World RealTracks (Sets 412-422): This new collection covers a lot of requests we’ve received for styles
like southern soul, prog rock, and 80s new wave, and we didn’t stop there! We’ve added siter, tabla, dhoulak, Dave Roe’s
funky bass playing, doo-wop pop vocals, Kevin McKendree’s piano playing, Pat Bergeson’s gritty harmonica, 12-key guitar,
and more!
- 67 Country, Americana & Celtic RealTracks (Sets 423-429): Our Country, Americana, and Celtic RealTracks boasts not
one - not two - but THREE new “Producer” country guitar playing sets with Brent Mason! We’ve also added some great
acoustic guitar, nylon guitar, and fingerpicking styles by Quinn Bachand, old-time autoharp, guitar soloing with Johnny
Hiland, contradance styles with Daniel Lapp on piano, Quinn Bachand on guitar, and more!
60 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks
Our 2023 49-PAK is loaded with 60 AMAZING bonus RealTracks – 20 more bonus RealTracks than we’ve offered in the past!
There’s a new instrument added to our RealTracks collection: the Erhu, a classical Chinese violin with two strings! Electric
guitar sounds by Brent Mason (7), Mike Durham (14), Tom Britt (1), and Darin Favorite (13) are included, along with Brian
Allen (12) on electric bass, Miles Black on electric piano (1), Quinn Bachand’s acoustic guitar playing (1), and lap steel by Rob
Ickles (2). Charles Treadway brings the rhythm organ (4), and there’s 70s soul electric bass by Dave Roe (3) and 70s soul
electric guitar played by Pat Bergeson! We’ve also included bongo drums (5), tambourine tracks (3), a cowbell, and more!
MIDI SuperTracks Set 36: Funk & Jazz Piano
This Funk & Jazz MIDI SuperTracks Set features the likes of Kevin McKendree and Miles Black. You’ll find a mix of faster
paced bouncy and lively piano playing, as well as paired back, mellow, and soothing rhythms and soloists in a variety of genres
such as bossa, boogie, Latin jazz, and more.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 37: Contradance Piano
This Contradance set showcases old-timey rhythm piano in both even and swing feels played by Daniel Lapp. The set has an
overall jaunty and playful vibe to it that would be well suited towards folk and jig dance songs.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 38: Funk & Blues Electric Piano and Organ
Charles Treadway and Kevin McKendree show off their organ and piano skills in this Funk & Blues Electric Piano and Organ
set. This set ranges from classic funk, busier and high energy playing, all the way to a slower and smoother blues funk, and
features both rhythm instruments and soloists.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 39: SynthMaster

Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box 2023 19

This SuperTracks Set is specifically designed to utilize the award-winning SynthMaster Player Synth by KV331 Audio that is
included with Band-in-a-Box 2023. This collection provides a selection of synth pad, bass synth, and arpeggiators in a variety of
styles, like fast rhythm funk, trance, dance and more.
MIDI Styles Set “Look Ma! More MIDI 9: Pop Oldies”
If you enjoy working with MIDI, you’re going to love the 15 Pop Oldies MIDI styles included with Look Ma! More MIDI 9!
The More MIDI 9: Pop Oldies set includes a large variety of styles, like R&B, New Orleans, rockabilly, Texas rock, blues, rock
‘n’ roll, Gospel, smooth jazz, and even more great Pop sounds!
MIDI Styles Set “Look Ma! More MIDI 10: Acid Jazz”
We’ve blended genres like funk, soul, hip hop, jazz and more to bring you Look Ma! More MIDI 10: Acid Jazz. There are 15
Styles included, with combinations like funk, fusion & hip hop, techno & EDM, blues, funk, smooth jazz & R&B, and more!
Instrumental Studies 18: Rockin’ Blues Soloing
Instrumental Studies Set 18 includes 6 electric guitar solo studies to learn from, including two straight Texas blues, two jump
blues, and two Texas blues shuffle!
Instrumental Studies 19: Modern Country Soloing
Learn some modern country electric guitar soloing with Instrumental Studies Set 19! We’ve included two studies each of
country waltz soloing, modern country ballad soloing, and swinging country rock soloing!
Artist Performance Set 13: Songs with Vocals Volume 3
You’ve requested more original songs with vocal performances, and we’ve delivered. “Songs With Vocals Volume 3” offers 20
more Band-in-a-Box MGU (song) files, each with vocal performances on the melody track, many with additional harmony
vocals as well! This volume includes the gospel-pop “As If (I Could Get Away), funk-rock “As Purple Turns to Blue,” 90s soul
“Better Not Wait Too Long,” and more. Use these to practice your mixing skills or just for listening and enjoying!
Artist Performance Set 14: Songs with Vocals Volume 4
You’ll find 20 more Band-in-a-Box MGU (song) files in “Songs With Vocals Volume 4.” Some of these performances in this
volume include the modern-pop “And I Forgive,” country-shuffle “Been to the City,” the slow hard-rock “Butterflies and
Thunderclouds,” and more. Each of these have the vocal performances on the melody track, many with additional harmony
vocals as well!
RealDrums Stems Set 3: Jazz, Latin & World
RealDrums Stems Set 3 adds stems for 29 RealDrums styles. The “RealDrums Stems” feature allows you to select a RealDrum
that has this feature enabled, and then when you generate it, it ALSO generates the SAME drum part, but putting each of the
microphones used to record the session on its own track! So, rather than just a stereo mix of the drums, you’re ALSO getting,
for example, the mics on both sides of the kick drum, the hi-hat mic, the room mics, etc. In addition to that, any percussion
instruments that were added to the drum part are also included. This set features exciting Afro-Cuban percussion ensembles, as
well as other great Jazz, Latin & World styles, such as “Island16ths,” “PartidoAlto” and more!
RealDrums Stems Set 4: Pop, Rock & Country
RealDrums Stems Set 4 adds stems for 22 RealDrums styles, including AltRockSlowSteady8ths^, BluesRumbaFastPercEv^,
Metal8thsDoubleTime^, and many more! The “RealDrums Stems” feature allows you to select a RealDrum that has this feature
enabled, and then when you generate it, it ALSO generates the SAME drum part, but putting each of the microphones used to
record the session on its own track! So, rather than just a stereo mix of the drums, you’re ALSO getting, for example, the mics
on both sides of the kick drum, the hi-hat mic, the room mics, etc. In addition to that, any percussion instruments that were
added to the drum part are also included.
Playable RealDrums with audio demos
Drum roll please... we’ve added Playable RealDrums! Just like the Playable RealTracks, you can now customize these
RealDrums performances with the exact notes you want. You’ll then hear those notes using a MIDI sound created from the
RealDrums recording. These Playable RealDrums also include clickable audio demos.
Playable RealTracks Set 2 (~400 additional audio demos or Playable RealTracks)
Continuing where Set 1 left off, we’ve added 404 more Playable RealTracks. Plus, we’ve now added clickable demos for all of
these sounds, and we’ve also added demos for all of the previously released Playable RealTracks. These Playable RealTracks
Hi-Q sounds match many of our RealTracks, so you can easily switch from RealTracks parts to MIDI notes while maintaining
the instrument sound! Customize the RealTracks performance by adding your own notes. You will then hear those notes using a
MIDI sound created from the RealTracks recording. This means you can get the RealTracks to play the notes you want at key
parts of the performance, either augmenting or replacing what the RealTracks is playing, for any sections in the song.
RealCombos Booster PAKS styles
With RealCombos Booster PAK 2, Pro and MegaPAK users receive 45 new RealTracks and a whopping 80 new RealStyles!
These include classic country swing, bluesy soul, bluegrass, folk-pop, praise & worship, jazz ballads, jazz funk, modern rock,
funky blues, and much more!
SynthMaster Sounds and Styles, with audio demos

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Version 2023 includes the award-winning SynthMaster Player Synth by KV331 Audio. This has thousands of presets that are
especially useful for modern, techno and arpeggiator sounds. SynthMaster support has been built into Band-in-a-Box so you can
easily choose thousands of SynthMaster sounds, or choose “Load Hi-Q patch” dialog to choose from presets made by PG
Music. Styles can be made to play with SynthMaster sounds without any need to load it. Plus, we’ve released MIDI
SuperTracks Set 39: SynthMaster (Included in the 2023 Free Bonus PAK) that uses a mix of SynthMaster sounds, MIDI
SuperTracks with arpeggiators and RealTracks.
XPro Styles PAK 4
Coming in hot it’s XPro Styles PAK 4! We’re back once again with the fourth entry in our XPro Styles PAK series with 100
brand new RealStyles and 30 additional RealTracks and RealDrums that can be used to add a little spice to your Band-in-a-Box
Pro version!
We’ve got you covered with 25 Rock & Pop, 25 Jazz & Funk, and 25 Country styles. To round out our 100 RealStyles, we’ve
put together a collection of 25 styles that focus on the cajon as well as drums played with mallets! Here you can find everything
from happy pop to funky bossa nova to minimalist singer-songwriter styles! The included 30 RealTracks and RealDrums can be
used with any version of Band-in-a-Box and these additional RealTracks and RealDrums are not included in any Pro or
MegaPAK package!
Here are some examples of what we’ve created for you: ambient pop beats, soft Americana ballads, modern mellow country,
jazz-rock fusion, slow folk-rock, soulful baritone guitars, country shuffles, and many more! Variety is the spice of life, so add
some to your RealStyles library today!
Xtra Styles PAK 15
Hey ho! Here we go! You want styles?! We got ‘em! Xtra Styles PAK 15 has got you covered! We got your rock and your pop,
not to mention our usual jazz and country styles but this PAK also includes an entire volume dedicated to MultiStyles! A first
for our Xtra Styles PAK collection! Never has there been a better time to dive in and see the phenomenally multitudinous
combinations one can conceive with MultiStyles! Ok, maybe that was a bit wordy… suffice to say it’s a lot! What it really
comes down to is this: You want fresh, premium styles? Xtra Styles PAK 15 has you covered! Here’s a short list of what is
included: funky jazz pop, modern country boogie, 80s glam rock, country pop grooves, heavy alternative rock, quiet rockabilly,
New Orleans funk, 12-8 blues rock, ambient rock ballads, and many more!
- Rock-Pop 15: This sublime collection of styles curated for Rock+Pop volume 15 will have you bouncing around the room
full of joy one moment and then sitting in thoughtful contemplation the next! You can even dress up and rock out to showy
80’s glam should your heart desire! We’ve got synth rock, we’ve got blues rock, we’ve even got some slow gospel rock.
There’s something for everyone!
- MultiStyles: For the first time ever, we’ve included an Xtra Styles PAK volume dedicated solely to MultiStyles! Here you’ll
find a wonderful mix of rock, pop, and country styles ranging from bluesy doo-wop and quick Cajun zydeco to a classic
country shuffle! Other styles include outlaw country, alt rock ballads, modern synth pop, and even some retro electro soul!
See all the amazing combinations you can create with Xtra Styles Pak 15: MultiStyles!
- Jazz 15: Jazz 15 features a splendid mix of jazz, funk, and Latin styles for your aural amusement. Here you can find a funk
style featuring only 4 guitars and a drum kit juxtaposed with a quiet and subdued piano and vibraphone duo. You can also find
modern jazz, cool bossa nova, fusion-funk soca, and even a swinging big band with a clarinet soloist. Whatever your jazz
needs, we have you covered!
- Country 15: The final volume of Xtra Styles PAK 15, our country pack delivers a swell mix of styles ranging all the way
from happy folk waltzes to smooth country soul and even some funky country pop! Whatever your cup of tea may be, we’ve
brewed up something nice for you here! Other styles include: easy country boogie, minimal cinematic western, a rockabilly-
outlaw country fusion, pop country, and many more!
Xtra Styles PAK 14
What’s that?! An auspicious need for more premium Band-in-a-Box styles? Fear not! For Xtra Styles PAK 14 has you covered
with 140 brand spankin’ new styles for your listening pleasure! As usual, Xtra Styles PAK 14 covers the basic genres: rock, pop,
jazz, and country. In contrast to previous years, we had SO many great ideas for pop styles that we decided to create an
ADDITIONAL 50 styles all contained in a volume of their very own! Now you can easily jam along to epic heavy metal or
relax to some chill, ambient grooves! Spark your imagination and spur your creativity with all that Xtra Styles PAK 14 has to
offer! Here’s a quick snapshot of what you can find: heavy symphonic metal, big band mambo, ambient lo-fi jazz, psychedelic
space rock, spaghetti western, energetic pop punk, New Orleans funk, Appalachian jaw-harp folk, acoustic rootsy funk, piano
power ballads, and many, many more!
- Rock-Pop 14: This Xtra Styles volume runs the gamut of pop-rock history from heavy metal and 70’s psychedelica all the
way to passionate acoustic rock and energetic pop-punk! You’ll find folk rock, alternative rock, funk rock, and even
sedimentary rock! OK, we made that last one up, but what we didn’t make up is how deep the layers go! Break apart this
volume and you’ll find many more wonderful rock styles to tumble around with and shine up your own unique ideas!
- Pop 14: An expansive genre in and of itself, we couldn’t just limit our pop styles to half a volume and so here we’ve collected
30 amazing styles for your listening pleasure. You can find funky folk-pop jams right next to electro synth grooves and 12-

Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box 2023 21

 string singer-songwriter styles up against vintage 50’s pop. More styles include folk-reggae, synth pop, 70’s pop-funk, and lo-
fi grooves. In this volume, there’s something for everyone!
- Jazz 14: Not to stray too far from convention, Xtra Styles PAK 14: Jazz 14 brings more of what you know and love in jazz,
funk, and Latin stylings. Examples of some of these delightful styles include: modern jazz fusion, New Orleans soul, big band
mambo, stride jazz, organ trios, funky sambas, and even some smooth jazz grooves! Whether you want to relax in your chair,
dance up and down the stairs, or snap along without a care, Xtra Styles PAK 14: Jazz 14 has you covered!
- Country 14: For our country volume, we’ve put together a collection of styles from across the country landscape ranging
from modern pop country all the way to Appalachian folk music. You’ll find styles that hearken to the days of spaghetti
westerns and styles that reminisce over rural old-time folk and even a few cheesy country ballads! Other styles include:
alternative country rock, slow rockabilly blues, driving train beats, and even some modern bro-country rock. Don’t miss out
on this amazing collection!
Xtra Styles PAK 13 (Released June 2022) - 200 RealStyles for Jazz, Rock-Pop, Country, and Singer/Songwriter
Xtra Styles PAK 12 (Released December 2021) - 200 RealStyles for Jazz, Rock-Pop, Country, and Blues
Xtra Styles PAK 11 (Released May 2021) - 200 RealStyles for Jazz, Rock-Pop, Country, and Half & Double-Time
Xtra Styles PAK 10 (Released December 2020) - 200 RealStyles for Jazz, Rock-Pop, Country, and Folk Celebration
Xtra Styles PAK 9 (Released May 2020) - 200 RealStyles for Jazz, Rock-Pop, Country, and Folk
Xtra Styles PAK 8 (Released December 2019) - 164 RealStyles for Jazz, Rock-Pop, Country, and Celtic
Xtra Styles PAK 7 (Released August 2019) - 164 RealStyles for Jazz, Rock-Pop, Country, and Americana
Xtra Styles PAK 6 (Released Dec 2018) - 162 RealStyles for Jazz, Rock-Pop, Country, and Trad Folk & Jazz
Xtra Styles PAK 5 (Released July 2018) - 160 RealStyles for Jazz, Rock-Pop, Country, and MIDI Styles
Xtra Styles PAK 4 (Released November 2017) - 150 RealStyles for Jazz, Rock-Pop, Country, and Folk & Beyond
Xtra Styles PAK 3 (Released June 2017) - 160 RealStyles for Jazz, Rock-Pop, Country, and Americana
Xtra Styles PAK 2 (Released December 2016) - 161 RealStyles for Jazz, Country, Rock-Pop, and Bluegrass & World
Xtra Styles PAK 1 (Released August 2016) - 164 RealStyles for Jazz, Country, Rock-Pop, and
Singer/SongwriterSummary of New Features
Partial Track Re-Generation
Now you can re-generate sections of RealTracks by simply highlighting the section and pressing Ctrl+F8. This generates a
different part each time, so you can keep regenerating to find the best replacement. You can also re-generate using different
RealTracks than the original. Normally, you would choose to replace the existing part but you can also set this to merge so you
will hear both parts. This also works with different RealTracks than the original on the same track. There is an optional floating
Regeneration window with settings (Alt+F8), which allows you to customize the re-generations.
Undo Available for Song or Track Generation
When you generate (or re-generate) a full song or part/whole track, you can undo it to get back to the previous generation with
the main menu Edit | Undo or Ctrl+Z.
Playable RealDrums
You can now customize the RealDrums performance by adding your own notes. You will then hear those notes using a MIDI
sound created from the RealDrums recording. This means you can get the RealDrums to play the notes you want at key parts of
the performance, either augmenting or replacing what the RealDrums is playing, for any sections in the song. This includes full
drum kits in GM note number format. You can enter the notes in the Notation (using drum notation) or the Piano Roll window.
Playable MIDI Tracks and MIDI SuperTracks
You can now customize the MIDI generated tracks by adding your own notes (on the same track). This uses the same sound as
the MIDI tracks. You can use this to replace or augment sections of the performance. You can re-generate the MIDI tracks, and
your customizations will remain.
Master Volume Automation
This node-based volume automation allows fine volume control of the Master track. This allows easy creation of fades,
crescendos, mutes, etc. This is in addition to the individual track volume automation.
RealTracks Stems
Some RealTracks (e.g., such as quartet vocals, string quartet, blues horns, crooner big band, etc.) have multiple track recordings.
Previously, you could only generate a single track with the entire group. Now, you can generate the “stems,” which are the
individual tracks as recorded. So, for example, for a string quartet you would get 5 tracks - the full mix and 4 separate tracks for
each of the instruments. This allows you to mix them as you’d like and also mute parts if you want to play along.
RealDrums Fills
RealDrums fills can be controlled, so you can get a drum fill at any bar without needing a part marker section change. You can
also get no drum fill on the bar before a part marker.

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SynthMaster Player Synth Included
This award-winning synth by KV331 Audio has thousands of presets that are especially useful for modern, techno and
arpeggiator sounds.
SynthMaster support built into Band-in-a-Box includes:
- MIDI SuperTracks that use sounds with arpeggiators.
- Access to SynthMaster sounds using the “Load Plugin” from the track’s right-menu to choose from thousands of SynthMaster
sounds, or choose “Load Hi-Q patch “dialog to choose from presets made by PG Music for some nice sounds available in
SynthMaster just by picking a patch.
- SynthMaster Player comes with thousands of sounds, so you can simply select Choose Plugin from the Plugin tab menu on
the Mixer, choose SynthMaster, and choose one of these sounds from the SynthMaster Player panel.
- Styles can be made to play with SynthMaster sounds without need to load it.
- MIDI SuperTracks Disk for SynthMaster synth is included, using a mix of SynthMaster sounds, MIDI SuperTracks with
arpeggiators and RealTracks.
EZ-RealTracks/RealDrums Folder Locations Dialog
When you rebuild a style list, you can confirm and set the correct locations of your RealTracks and RealDrums folders.
Previously, setting these folders took time as they were set in different locations and not incorporated into the style rebuild.
Now, there is a dialog that shows the current locations (e.g., C:\bb\RealTracks and C:\bb\Drums) and the number of RealTracks
and RealDrums present in these locations. This allows you to confirm that you are using the correct locations as you see the
expected numbers of RealTracks and RealDrums found in the folders. The dialog will display in the StylePicker when
rebuilding the styles list, and also show once when you run or update the program. It is also accessible from the Track Settings
and Actions dialog (F7).
“Different Riffs” Setting for Track Re-Generation
The Regeneration window (Alt+F8) and MultiRiff dialog (F8) have settings for “Different Riffs.” If the option is set to
“always,” each generation will be different from previous ones. If it’s set to “start,” the first bar of the section generated will be
different from previous ones. If it’s set to “none,” the generation might be similar to previous ones. For example, when you set it
to always different and regenerate a few bars of a sax solo, you should hear different phrases each time.
Editing Functions for RealTracks/RealDrums Tracks
You can now copy, cut, paste, delete, insert, and do other editing functions to the RealTracks and RealDrums tracks. This allows
you to edit the tracks while preserving the ability for the tracks to regenerate new material, and the file size saved is tiny as the
track isn’t converted to audio.
Auto-Save Song
If you did not close Band-in-a-Box properly in the last session, when you restart it, you will see a message dialog that asks if
you want to load the auto-saved song. This prevents losing your work if something crashes on your system.
Stereo VU Meters on the Mixer
In the Mixer window, the VU meters for the different tracks now show panning information.
Audio Input Monitoring
This is like “Audio Thru” and it routes incoming audio to Audio Out.
RealTracks Picker Enhancements
The “Stems” column is added to show you the number of individual instruments/voices available for the RealTrack.
There is a new menu item in the [#] filter button to find RealTracks with stems.
A right-click menu is added with commonly used functions (e.g., clear filter, set or edit favorites, show similar RealTracks,
etc.).
You can launch the StylePicker that will show only styles that use the selected RealTracks.
You can set favorites by using the right-click menu or clicking on the [*] (Set as Favorite) button.
The Choose RealTracks from Favorites and Recent dialog shows favorites followed by recently used RealTracks. The list can be
filtered with text string. For example, type banjo to find the ones with banjo in the name.
There is a Favorite RealTracks Editor that allows you to re-arrange/add/remove your favorites and add comments, which are
searchable in the filter.
A “Similar” button is added that will show RealTracks similar to the currently selected one.
RealDrums Picker Enhancements
A right-click menu is added with commonly used functions (e.g., clear filter, set or edit favorites, show similar or compatible
RealDrums, etc.)
You can set favorites by using the right-click menu or clicking on the [*] column.

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The Choose RealDrums from Favorites and Recent dialog shows favorites followed by recently used RealDrums. The list can be
filtered with text string. For example, type fusion to find the ones with fusion in the name.
There is a Favorite RealDrums Editor that allows you to re-arrange/add/remove your favorites and add comments, which are
searchable in the filter.
A “Similar” button is added that shows RealDrums that are similar to the currently selected one.
There is a new menu item in the [#] filter button to find RealDrums with stems.
Copy Song to Text Enhancements
The feature that copies the song as a text to clipboard or .txt file has been enhanced with options to:
- Add lyrics as a [Lyrics] section
- Use Tab delimiter for Bars, so the text can be pasted into a spreadsheet with columns for each bar
- Use / for every beat, to see | C / / / | instead of | C |
- Add Bar Numbers to each bar
SongPicker Enhancements
The SongPicker auto-rebuilds for folders if there are less than a specified number of songs. This means the SongPicker will
show all songs including new ones without needing to rebuild.
There is an option to include/exclude subfolders from the song list.
Message about rebuilding now is a question so that pressing YES saves the extra step of needing to rebuild it.
Chord Track Added
Chord track is added, for use with a VST (e.g., arpeggiators want a chord track) or for simple “pad” (held chords) tracks.
Chord track can be generated on any track. Specifying note range is required.
There is an option to always put a chord track on a specified track (e.g., Utility track #16).
Specific MIDI SuperTracks are added that generate a simple chord track (triads/7ths) or a chord track including 9ths/13ths.
Adding these MIDI SuperTracks to your track will write a chord track in the range set, for use with arpeggiators or other VST’s
wanting a chord track. With each play a new chord track is written. To do this, open the Select MIDI SuperTracks and choose
one that has “Arpeggio” in the name.
Fit-to-Note-Range MIDI Transpose Added
This will take any MIDI track and transpose the octave of the notes so that they enter the note range specified. For example, if
you have a bass MIDI track, and the notes are going too low for your MIDI patch, you can transpose to the instrument range,
and notes will have the octave raised as needed. This function is in the track button menu and also available for MIDI
SuperTracks.
Yellow Messages Enhancements
The notification messages that appear at the bottom right of the screen are enhanced. They are smaller, occupying less of the
screen.
The flash message colors can now be chosen in the Display Options dialog.
A handy function is added to easily see the flash message log. Type L O G Enter, and FlashMessageLog.txt will open.
Help for “Style Not Found”
If a style is not found when loading it, you will be given an option to open the StylePicker showing compatible styles that you
do have. Also, it shows information about the missing style like instrumentation, genre, and audio demo so you get an idea of
what replacement you need.
StylePicker Enhancements
A style chosen as a prototype always shows in the list, even with a filter applied.
4-bar preview is now settable to 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28 or 32 bars.
Double-click on a style can be set to play the Chord Sheet chords instead of the pre-made demo.
A progress bar will show at the top of the StylePicker during style rebuild.
Style rebuild shows a dialog to confirm RealTracks/RealDrums folder locations.
The StylePicker launches when a style is not found and shows you replacement suggestions.
The [Action] button - “Reset Dialog to Default” menu item sets both the StylePicker main screen and StylePicker Options
dialog to default.
Generate Intros Using Song Chords
An option is added to incorporate the chords in any section into the intro. For example, you can use the last 4 bars of the song as
an intro.

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More Track Button Right-Click Menu Items
Menu items are added for copy/move tracks, transpose octave to note range, generate chord track, regenerate part of track
(Ctrl+F8), regenerate window (Alt+F8), cut riff, copy riff, paste riff (relative to copy point), paste N of copies of riff, paste riff
(merge with underlying audio), erase riff, and copy/move tracks.
Find a Drums Sub for Style item is added to the Drums track. This will list RealDrums that would work for the current style.
Track Settings and Actions Dialog Enhancements
The dialog has a new button for various MIDI editing commands like transpose, generate chord track, transpose octave to note
range, etc.
There is also a new button to copy/move tracks.
Summary Section in “What Add-ons do I have?” Dialog
This lists the percentage (%) of RealTracks, RealDrums, Styles and add-on styles with links to pgmusic.com with more
information.
Pre-made “Showcase” Audio Demos for Playable RealTracks and RealDrums
These show how the playable MIDI sound (sfz) compares to the audio RealTracks and RealDrums, by playing 4 bars of
playable sound, then 4 bars of playable sound with a band, and then 4 bars of RealTracks with a band.
Playable Tracks Enhancement
You can now easily increase/decrease volume of the playable MIDI sounds (using velocity).
Chord display for Nashville Notation and Roman Numerals now shows minor keys as 1m
For example, Am in the key of Am would be 1m. This is settable if you prefer 6m.
Display Option of Red Lines in Bars on Chord Sheet
The Bar Settings (F5) dialog has an option to hide the “red lines” in bars that have changes. This can be done per song or global
setting. You can toggle the setting back on when you want to see them again, but it gives the Chord Sheet a cleaner look when
you are just playing songs.
Notation Enhancements
The Notation window (Editable or Staff Roll mode) has hotkeys (Ctrl+Alt+Arrow R/L) for changing note times left/right.
Rests now transpose from treble to bass.
You can now highlight an area of non-editable notation.
The Lead Sheet can set the number of staves to one per page in Options.
There is a new notation setting for note colors: black/yellow (not a chord tone)/orange (not a chord tone & not a scale tone).
Notation Printing Enhancements
There is a new File menu item Print Song in Lead Sheet Mode that prints the song using the Lead Sheet options (such as fake
sheet). The hotkey is Ctrl+Shift+P. This is in addition to File | Print Song (Ctrl+P) that prints using the Notation window
options.
When you do not include staff lines in printout, there is an option to show chords above instead of inside each bar.
Band-in-a-Box remembers all items in the Print Options dialog when returning and after reboot.
The Print Options dialog has hotkeys for “OK - Preview/Graphics” and others.
Print Range remembers last settings and uses that as default.
XML Enhancement
Importing a MusicXML file to Utility tracks is enhanced, so tracks don’t default to all going on the Melody track.
New Hotkeys
Ctrl+A selects all in the various windows like Chord Sheet, Notation, Audio Edit and Piano Roll.
Alt+Shift+Z solos the current track on the mixer.
L O G Enter opens the flash message log file (FlashMessageLog.txt).
(Audio Edit window) Ctrl+Shift+V mix-pastes audio.
(Audio Edit window) Shift+Delete deletes a region of audio.
(Piano Roll window) + (plus) increases velocities of the selected notes by 1.
(Piano Roll window) Shift++ (plus) increases velocities of the selected notes by 5.
(Piano Roll window) - (minus) decreases velocities of the selected notes by 1.
(Piano Roll window) Shift+- (minus) decreases velocities of the selected notes by 5.
(Piano Roll window) ~ (tilde) randomizes velocities of the selected notes (-1 to +1).
(Piano Roll window) Shift+~ (tilde) randomizes velocities of the selected notes (-5 to +5).

Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box 2023 25

Miscellaneous
Search-and-Replace chords now sets to the selected area.
Songs loaded that previously had audio but no longer have audio files will remove the audio settings (tempo, transpose) from
the track.
You can now drop VST plugins (.dll files) onto the plugin selector dialog to add them to the Band-in-a-Box plugin lists.
A song setting to allow chord variations in repeated sections is added.
The DAW button turns red to clearly indicate the DAW plugin mode is currently on.
The “Select Hi-Q MIDI Patch Plugin” menu item always shows in the track button menu.
MIDI tracks that use their own MIDI plugin display VU meters based on audio output rather than estimated MIDI events.
The color selection combo box in the Display Options dialog is now bigger.
Increase/decrease note velocity adjusting features are added to the Piano Roll window. These can be accessed from the right-
click menu or hotkeys.
Many Accessibility Enhancements
See the list at https://www.pgmusic.com/bbwin.new.accessibility.htm
Feature Browser Enhancements
The Feature Browser (accessed from the / Enter keys) has been updated to include the latest 2023 features.
There is a new button to filter the list to show the latest 2023 features. You can add keywords to find new features for topics of
interest.
… and more!
QuickStart Tutorial
Let’s take a close look at the great new features in Band-in-a-Box 2023!
Partial Track Re-Generation
Now you can re-generate sections of RealTracks by simply highlighting the section and pressing Ctrl+F8. This generates a
different part each time, so you can keep regenerating to find the best replacement. You can also re-generate using different
RealTracks than the original. Normally, you would choose to replace the existing part but you can also set this to merge so you
will hear both parts. This also works with different RealTracks than the original on the same track.
Let’s open a song that has a soloist (e.g., saxophone soloist). Now, press PLAY to generate the song. We’ll focus on the sax
soloist track since we want to fine tune the solo to our liking.
First, select the track using the Mixer.

Now, listen to the solo. Let’s say you don’t like what the sax plays for four bars, starting at bar 9. Highlight the bars 9-13 by
dragging on the Chord Sheet. You can also do this in the Audio Edit or Notation window.

Let’s generate the selected section. Either press Ctrl+F8 or right-click on the track button and go to Track Actions | Auto
Regenerate Part of RealTracks.

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That’s it. You will now hear the song start playing at bar 8 (one bar before the section to provide a lead-in) and then you will
hear the new solo that’s generated just for these two bars.
A great thing about this is that the solo generated will be different from the previous one(s) you’ve generated. If you don’t like
the new one, try again and generate another one. You can keep going and generate up to 40 variations. And another great thing
is that they all will be different from each other. This is new for 2023, as previously it was “hit or miss” if you’d get a different
variation or not. And there are more variations available now (typically 40 instead of 20 in previous versions).
If you find one you like, great! Just stop and continue, maybe moving to another section of the song or switching to a different
track or something else entirely.
So, the Ctrl+F8 keys can become your “Fix-it” tool for fixing any section of any RealTracks that you don’t like, including
soloist, background tracks, comping etc.
If you prefer not to make a selection or you want a more customized approach to regenerate these sections, there is an optional
floating Regeneration window, which allows you to make settings to customize the type of re-generations.
Let’s press Alt+F8 or right-click on the track button and go to Track Actions | Regenerate Window.

This is a floating window, so you can do any other Band-in-a-Box function as you keep this window open.
There’s a track selector to confirm or change what track you want to re-generate.
You can set or change the current track using the [Main RT] button.
You can generate a different RealTracks by pressing the [Alt RT] button and selecting an alternate RealTracks. For
example, you may want 4 bars of a flute solo instead of sax but want to keep sax as the main soloist on the track.
Pressing the [X] button will clear this selection.
The [S] button will solo the track.
The [Undo] button will undo the last generation. (Note that you can also choose Edit | Undo or Ctrl+Z to do this.)
You can generate based on either the full bar boundaries or precise regions including bars/beat and ticks. This is done
with the Bar based range option.
When this option is selected, you will see Bar, Chorus and Number of bars. The [<<] button
will set to the beginning of the song, and [>>] button sets to the end.

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 When this option is not selected, you will see a precise range in bars/beats/ticks. The [<] button
moves to the beginning of the bar. The [<<] moves to start of song. [>] moves to end of bar.
[>>] moves to end of song.

If you make selections on the Chord Sheet, Audio Edit, Piano Roll, or Notation window, these settings for range will update. For
example, if you are on the Audio Edit window, you can make a selection of a precise range, and as long as you have “Bar based
range” option de-selected, you will get the precise range you want.
The [Copy] button copies a range of riff to the clipboard.
The [Paste] button pastes the copied riff to the current location, overwriting the existing riff at the destination.
The [P Rel] button pastes the copied riff to the same relative location in the bar as the copied portion. For example, if the
copied range started at beat 2, the relative paste will start at beat 2.
The [PPP] button lets you select the number of pastes. Hold down the Shift key as you click on this button to make the
pastes merge with existing riffs.
The [Paste Merge] button pastes the copied riff to the current location and merges it with the existing riff so you
will hear both riffs.
The [Cut] button removes a range of riff and copies it to the clipboard.
The [Erase] button erases a range of riff.
The [Insert] button inserts the selected amount of space and shits all audio following the inserted region to a later
time.
The [Delete] button deletes the selected region. All audio following the deleted region will be shifted to an earlier
time.
The [Options] button shows options for the partial regenerations.
Allow Lead-in allows some of the re-generations to start early as a pickup to the
range you’ve selected.
Generate an extra beat will finish the riff up to 1 beat after the selected range.
Overwrite (replace) existing will make the generation replace the existing part.
Setting it to false will merge with the existing generation. For example, maybe you
have a sax solo and would like to have sax and flute soloing together for a few
bars. You can use this setting to accomplish this by setting this option to false.
Remember to set it back to normal when you prefer the re-generations to “replace”
instead of “merge.”
Auto-Play will play the song from the bar before the selected range, so you can hear what it sounds like.
Different Riffs determines how the riffs will be different from previous ones. If it’s set to “always,” each generation will be
different from previous ones. If it’s set to “start,” the first bar of the section generated will be different from previous one. If it’s
set to “none,” the generation might be similar to the previous one.
[Forget Recent Riffs Used] allows Band-in-a-Box to “forget” the previous ones so that you can generate using all the available
ones. Note that re-generation from a different bar, different track or different song will “forget” the previous re-generations, so
you likely won’t need to press this button much, if at all.
Undo Available for Song or Track Generation
When you generate (or re-generate) a full song or part/whole track, you can undo it to get back to the previous generation. As
with other Undo functions, choose menu Edit | Undo Tracks Generation or menu Edit | Undo Generation of Song Tracks, or just
press hotkey Ctrl+Z.

Playable RealDrums
You can now customize the RealDrums performance by adding your own notes. You will then hear those notes using a MIDI
sound created from the RealDrums recording. This means you can get the RealDrums to play the notes you want at key parts of
the performance, either augmenting or replacing what the RealDrums is playing, for any sections in the song. This includes full
drum kits in GM note number format. You can enter the notes in the Notation (using drum notation) or the Piano Roll window.

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To add some Playable RealDrums, load a song that has RealDrums. Press PLAY to generate it. Choose a track with Drums.
Open the Notation window, and you will see the notation for the Drums track.

Switch the Notation window to the Editable or Staff Roll mode to enable editing of the Drums track.
Press the [PT] button and select Enable Playable Track from the menu. When this menu item is enabled, you can choose a
MIDI Drum sound that will match the selected RealDrums. You can use the same functions as for Playable RealTracks.
Inserting your own notes (green color) and muting sections of the RealDrums will allow you to add notes to the current
RealDrums or replace sections of the RealDrums. For example, add a cymbal crash, control the volume using the velocity of the
MIDI note (or overall volume setting using the [PT] button menu).

Playable MIDI Tracks and MIDI SuperTracks

You can now customize the MIDI generated tracks by adding your own notes (on the same track). This uses the same sound as
the MIDI tracks. You can use this to replace or augment sections of the performance. You can re-generate the MIDI tracks, and
your customizations will remain.
In a manner similar to the Playable RealTracks and RealDrums, press the [PT] button in the Notation window (Editable or
Staff Roll mode) and select Enable Playable Track from the menu. This allows you to add or replace sections of the MIDI track
or MIDI SuperTracks. These additions you make won’t get erased when you generate new MIDI tracks.

Master Volume Automation

This node-based volume automation allows fine volume control of the Master track. This allows easy creation of fades,
crescendos, mutes, etc. This is in addition to the individual track volume automation.
Open the Audio Edit window (Ctrl-Shift+A), select the Master track, and press the volume automation mode button.

This will show blue lines on the Master track. You can click anywhere on the blue line to add a node (a small blue dot), which
acts as an anchor. If you add more nodes and then move some of them up or down, the blue line will be drawn between nodes
that you’ve entered. And the position of the blue line at any given point determines the amount in decibels that the audio is
increased or decreased at that point.

Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box 2023 29

RealTracks Stems
Some RealTracks (e.g., quartet vocals, string quartet, blues horns, crooner big band, etc.) have multiple track recordings.
Previously, you could only generate a single track with the entire group. Now, you can generate the “stems,” which are the
individual tracks as recorded. So, for example, for a string quartet you would get 5 tracks - the full mix and 4 separate tracks for
each of the instruments. This allows you to mix them as you’d like and also mute parts if you want to play along.
In the RealTracks Picker, you can find which RealTracks have stems if you look at the “Stems” column. It shows you
the number of individual instruments/voices available.

You can also find them using the RealTracks Stems Available and/or Found menu item in the [#] filter button.

When you select RealTracks that have stems, you will see what they are just below the list. Using the checkboxes, you can load
all stems, the selected stems, or the mix of all stems.

If you select all or individual stems, each stem will be loaded to separate tracks, so you can control volume, pan, etc. for each
stem using the Mixer.

There is a demo song “RealTracks Stems - Crooner Jazz Horn Section stems.SGU” in C:\bb\Documentation\Tutorials\Tutorial -
BB2023. When you open this songs, a mix of stems and 10 individual stems will be loaded to the Utility tracks.

RealDrums Fills
RealDrums fills can be controlled, so you can get a drum fill at any bar without needing a part marker section change. You can
also get no drum fill on the bar before a part marker. Previously, the only way to get the drums to play a fill would be to put a
part marker on the bar following the fill.

Press the [Bar Settings] toolbar button or the F5 key to open the Edit Settings for Current Bar dialog.
If you enable the “Drum Fill” option, you’ll get a drum fill at the current bar.
If you are at a bar before a part marker and you don’t want a drum fill, then disable the “Drum Fill” option.
SynthMaster Player Synth Included
This award-winning synth by KV331 Audio has thousands of presets that are especially useful for modern, techno and
arpeggiator sounds.
Note: SynthMaster Player VST is a 64-bit plugin only. There is no 32-bit version available.
SynthMaster support built into Band-in-a-Box includes:
- MIDI SuperTracks that use sounds with arpeggiators.

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- Access to SynthMaster sounds using the “Load Plugin” from the track’s right-menu to choose from thousands of SynthMaster
sounds, or choose “Load Hi-Q patch “dialog to choose from presets made by PG Music for some nice sounds available in
SynthMaster just by picking a patch.
- SynthMaster Player comes with thousands of sounds, so you can simply select Choose Plugin from the Plugin tab menu on
the Mixer, choose SynthMaster, and choose one of these sounds from the SynthMaster Player panel.
- Styles can be made to play with SynthMaster sounds without need to load it.
- MIDI SuperTracks Disk for SynthMaster synth is included, using a mix of SynthMaster sounds, MIDI SuperTracks with
arpeggiators and RealTracks.
SynthMaster is installed to the following folders by default:
C:\Program Files\KV331 Audio
C:\Program Files\VSTPlugins\KV331 Audio
To use SynthMaster as a default synth, open the MIDI/Audio Driver Setup dialog (Options | Preferences | [MIDI Driver]) and
press the [VSTi/DXi Synth] button.

SynthMaster is automatically added to the plugin list. Simply

select “<VSTi> JV331 Audio: SynthMaster 2 Player” from the list
and press OK.

When SynthMaster is selected as a default synth, its name shows in the [VSTi/DXi Synth] button.
To select MIDI SuperTracks that use SynthMaster sounds, right-click on a track button and choose Select MIDI SuperTrack for
this track from the menu.

This will open the Select MIDI SuperTracks dialog. Type a “SynthMaster” text to filter the list.

Some of them have arpeggiators in the sounds. Select one you like and press OK and answer yes to the confirmation message.

You will see that the track label has turned blue to indicate that it is a MIDI SuperTrack.
In the Mixer, you can confirm that the SynthMaster synth sound is loaded to the track.

If you want to customize the sound, click on the SynthMaster synth in the [Plugins] tab to open the synth window.

Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box 2023 31

You can also access SynthMaster sounds using the Hi-Q patch dialog. Right-click on a track button, and go to Select MIDI
Instrument (Patch) | Select Mi-Q MIDI Patch Plugin.

This will open the dialog that lists Hi-Q patch plugins (.tgs). Type “SynthMaster” in the text filter and select any of the presets
that PG Music has made.

SynthMaster comes with thousands of sounds. To choose a sound, right-click on the [Plugin] in the Mixer to open a menu and
select Choose Plugin.

Then, select “<VSTi> JV331 Audio: SynthMaster 2 Player” from the list of plugins and press OK.

You can now choose from many sounds in the SynthMaster Player panel.

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Some styles use MIDI SuperTracks that automatically play with SynthMaster sounds. They are included in MIDI SuperTracks
Set 39. In the StylePicker, you can find them using the [Other] filter button menu item Specific MIDI SuperTracks Set #.

When you look at the mixer area in the StylePicker, you can see which tracks use SynthMaster sounds.

To make a style that plays with SynthMaster sounds, open the StyleMaker and press the [Misc] button followed by [More].
Then, in the More Miscellaneous Style Settings dialog, select the track and MIDI SuperTracks in the “Assign Soloist,
RealTracks or MIDI SuperTracks” area.

EZ RealTracks/RealDrums Folder Locations Dialog

When you rebuild a style list, you can confirm and set the correct locations of your RealTracks and RealDrums folders.
Previously, setting these folders took time as they were set in different locations and not incorporated into the style rebuild.
Now, there is a dialog that shows the current locations (e.g., C:\bb\RealTracks and C:\bb\Drums) and the number of RealTracks
and RealDrums present in these locations. This allows you to confirm that you are using the correct locations as you see the
expected numbers of RealTracks and RealDrums found in the folders.
The dialog will display in the StylePicker when rebuilding the styles list. It will also show once when you run
the program first time after installation or update.

Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box 2023 33

 In the dialog, you can see how many RealTracks and
RealDrums are found in the selected folder.

The dialog is also accessible with the [Set RT/RD Folders]

button in the Track Settings and Actions dialog (F7).

“Different Riffs” Setting for Track Re-Generation

The Regeneration window (Alt+F8) and MultiRiff dialog (F8) have settings for “Different Riffs.” If the option is set to
“always,” each generation will be different from previous ones. If it’s set to “start,” the first bar of the section generated will be
different from previous ones. If it’s set to “none,” the generation might be similar to previous ones. For example, when you set it
to always different and regenerate a few bars of a sax solo, you should hear different phrases each time.
You can change this setting in the Regeneration window (Alt+F8 - [Options]). You can also set this in the MultiRiff dialog (F8).

Editing Functions for RealTracks/RealDrums Tracks

You can now copy, cut, paste, delete, insert, and do other editing functions to the RealTracks and RealDrums tracks. This allows
you to edit the tracks while preserving the ability for the tracks to regenerate new material, and the file size saved is tiny as the
track isn’t converted to audio.
You can use these functions on the Chord Sheet, Notation window or Audio Edit window.
There are two ways to use the functions. One is to use the new items in the track’s right-click menu.
Cut Riff removes a range of riff and copies it to the clipboard.
Copy Riff copies a range of riff to the clipboard.
Paste Riff pastes the copied riff to the current location, overwriting
the existing riff
Paste Riff - Relative to Copy Point pastes the copied riff to the
same relative location in the bar as the copied portion. For
example, if the copied riff started at beat 2, the relative paste will
start at beat 2.
Paste N copies of Riff pastes the copied riff to the current location
and repeats the paste by the specified number of times.
Paste Riff - Merge with underlying audio pastes the copied riff to
the current location and merges it with the existing riff so you will
hear both riffs.
Erase Riff (range of MIDI and RealTracks) erases a region of
RealTracks and related MIDI notation.
Another way is to use the buttons in the Regenerate window (Alt+F8). For example, if you like a certain riff and you want it at
other location, highlight it on the Audio Edit window.

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When you look at the Regenerate window, the range is automatically selected for the highlighted area. Now, press the [Copy]
button to copy the riff to the clipboard.

Move the time line to the location you want to paste the copied riff and press the [Paste] button. This will paste the riff to the
destination.

If you want to paste the riff and merge it with the existing riff at the destination, press the [Paste Merge] button instead. If you
want to paste the riff to the same relative location in the bar as the copied portion, use the [P Rel] button. For example, if the
copied range started at beat 2, the relative paste will start at beat 2. The [PPP] button lets you select the number of pastes. Hold
down the Shift key as you click on this button to make the pastes merge with existing riffs. The [Paste Merge] button pastes the
copied riff to the current location and merges it with the existing riff so you will hear both riffs.
Auto-Save Song
If you did not close Band-in-a-Box properly in the last session, when you restart it, you will see a message dialog that asks if
you want to load the auto-saved song. This prevents losing your work if something crashes on your system.

Stereo VU Meters on the Mixer

In the Mixer window, the VU meters for individual tracks now show panning information.

Audio Input Monitoring

This is like “Audio Thru” and it routes incoming audio to Audio Out.
To use this feature, you need to arm the track that you are recording to. To do this, right-click on the track button in the Mixer
and select the Arm Track for Audio Input Monitoring menu item, or right-click on the VU meters and select Arm Track from the
menu.
The VU meters right-click menu has options to
select an audio input. For example, if your audio
interface has two inputs (right/left) and you want to
record from a microphone plugged into the right
input, select the Mono Right to Stereo menu item.
When the track is armed, blue borders are drawn around the VU meters. You can now monitor audio input along with
the effects that you select on that track. For example, if you want to add a tremolo effect to your recording, right-click on the
first slot in the Mixer, select Choose Plugin from the menu, and select a tremolo effect. Now, when you sing or play an
instrument though the microphone, you will see it on the VU meters and you will hear it along with the tremolo effect.

RealTracks Picker Enhancements

The “Stems” column is added to show you the number of individual instruments/voices available for the RealTrack.

Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box 2023 35

There is a new menu item in the [#] filter button to find RealTracks with stems.

A right-click menu is added with commonly used functions (e.g., clear filter, set or edit favorites, show similar RealTracks,
etc.).

You can launch the StylePicker that will show only styles that use the selected RealTracks. You can do this with the Launch
StylePicker showing styles with selected RT right-click menu item. For example, if you right-click on” Pedal Steel, Background
Ev 085” and select this menu item, the StylePicker will open and show you styles that use this RealTracks.

You can set favorites by using the right-click menu or clicking on the [*] (Set as Favorite) button.

The [Favs] button opens the Choose RealTracks from Favorites and Recently Used dialog, which shows your
favorites followed by recently used RealTracks. The list can be filtered with text string. For example, type “banjo” to find the
ones with banjo in the name.

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The [Edit Favorites] button in the Choose RealTracks from Favorites and Recently Used dialog opens the Favorite
RealTracks Editor that allows you to re-arrange/add/remove your favorites. You can also add comments, which are searchable
in the Choose RealTracks from Favorites and Recently Used dialog.

A “Similar” button is added that will show RealTracks similar to the currently selected one. For example, if you have a
RealTracks like “Fiddle, Soloist Train Ev 130” chosen and want to find similar RealTracks, press the Similar button, and you’ll
see the Find a Sub dialog that lists similar RealTracks.

RealDrums Picker Enhancements

Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box 2023 37

A right-click menu is added with commonly used functions (e.g., clear filter, set or edit favorites, show similar or compatible
RealDrums, etc.).

You can set favorites by using the right-click menu or clicking on the [*] column.

The Choose RealDrums from Favorites and Recently Used dialog shows favorites followed by recently
used RealDrums. The list can be filtered with text string. For example, type “fusion” to find the ones with fusion in the name.

The [Edit Favorites] button in the Choose RealDrums from Favorites and Recently Used dialog opens the Favorite
RealDrums Editor that allows you to re-arrange/add/remove your favorites. You can also add comments, which are searchable
in the Choose RealDrums from Favorites and Recently Used dialog.

Pressing the new [Similar] button or choosing Select Similar RealDrums to current selection from the right-click menu shows
RealDrums that are similar to the currently selected one. For example, if you want RealDrums similar to “Blues Shuffle,”

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highlight the style, press the [Similar] button. You will then see a list of other compatible Blues RealDrums, other RealDrums
in Pop/Rock 4/4 Swing 8 and tempo 85, and other RealDrums in Pop/Rock 4/4 Swing 8 and tempo 85.

There is a new menu item in the [#] filter button to find RealDrums with stems.

Copy Song to Text Enhancements

The feature that copies the song as a text to clipboard or .txt file has been enhanced with options to:
- Add lyrics as a [Lyrics] section.
- Use Tab delimiter for bars, so the text can be pasted into a spreadsheet with columns for each bar.
- Use a slash for every beat to see | C / / / | instead of | C |.
- Add bar numbers to each bar.
You can launch the Song(s) to Text dialog with the menu Edit | Copy Special | Copy Song(s) to Text on Clipboard of File(s).

Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box 2023 39

SongPicker Enhancements
The SongPicker auto-rebuilds for folders if there are less than a specified number of songs. This means that the SongPicker will
show all songs including new ones without needing to rebuild. You can set this with the new option in the SongPicker Options
dialog.

There is also an option to include/exclude subfolders from the song list.

A message about rebuilding is now a question so that pressing YES saves the extra step of needing to rebuild it.

Chord Track Added

Chord track is added, for use with a VST (e.g., arpeggiators want a chord track) or for simple “pad” (held chords) tracks.
A chord track can be generated on any track. Right-click on the track in the Mixer and select Edit MIDI | Generate Chord Track
on this track from the menu. You will then see the Output Chords to Track dialog with options about the chord track to be
generated.
These options include channel, velocity, note range, chord types, ticks
before the chord change, and output chords during lead in. If the
chord types are set to “triads, 7ths only,” a chord like C13 will be
played as a C7, but if they are set to “complex chords,” a C13 chord
will be played as C13. The default setting for “# ticks before chord
change to output” is 0, which means chords will be exactly on the
downbeat, but if you enter a number other than 0, the chords will start
a little bit earlier and may have sufficient time to swell.

For example, if you selected the “60-72” note range and “triads and 7ths” chord types, you will see in the Piano Roll window
that the chords are generated within the 60-72 (C5-C6) note rage and the simpler chords are written for complex chords.

In addition, using the Output Chords on Channel dialog (Option | Preferences | [Output Chords]), you can set a chord track to
be always written to a certain track (e.g., Utility track #16).

Specific MIDI SuperTracks are added that generate a simple chord track (triads/7ths) or a chord track including 9ths/13ths.
Adding these MIDI SuperTracks to your track will write a chord track in the range set, for use with arpeggiators or other VSTs
wanting a chord track. With each play a new chord track is written. To do this, open the Select MIDI SuperTracks dialog and
choose one that has “Arpeggio” in the name.

40 Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box 2023

Fit-to-Note-Range MIDI Transpose Added
This will take any existing MIDI track and transpose the octave of the notes so that they enter the note range specified. For
example, if you have a bass MIDI track and the notes are going too low for your MIDI patch, then you can transpose to the
instrument range, and notes will have the octave raised as needed. This function is also available for MIDI SuperTracks.
To transpose an existing track using the MIDI Note Range, right-click on a track button select Edit MIDI | Adjust octave of
Notes to fit Note Range from the menu.

You will be given two dialogs. In the first dialog, enter a note number that will be the lowest of the range and press OK.

In the next dialog, enter a note number that will be the highest of the range and press OK.

Now the track will be transposed for any note that is below or above your range so that it is within the range.

Yellow Messages Enhancements

The notification messages that appear at the bottom right of screen are enhanced. They are smaller, occupying less of the screen.

The flash message colors can now be chosen in the Display Options dialog (Options | Preferences | [Display]).

A handy function is added to see the flash message log. Type l o g Enter, and FlashMessageLog.txt will open.

Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box 2023 41

Help for “Style Not Found”
If a style is not found when loading it, you will be given an option to open the StylePicker showing compatible styles that you
do have. Also, it shows information about the missing style like instrumentation, genre, and audio demo so you get an idea of
what replacement you need.
For example, you have a song that needs the style _OMENS+.STY but you don’t have that style. Previously, you would load it,
get a message that you don’t have it, and it would just get set to a default style. Now, if Band-in-a-Box knows about that style,
you will get a message like this:

You get a little more information about the style like the full name “Omens Electro Trip Hop Multi,” which helps, and you also
can choose “Yes” to launch the StylePicker.

The StylePicker shows you a lot of information about the style that you don’t have, such as genre (Hip Hop), time signature
(4/4), feel (even 16), tempo (70), and the Styles Disk that it comes from (MultiStyles 1).
Double-clicking on the style will play a pre-made demo so you can hear what the style should sound like if you have it.
The StylePicker shows you styles that you do have that would be good substitutes. For example, the first one is “+Spit It Trap
Beat with Piano,” which is a Hip Hop style with the same tempo, feel and time signature. So, you can try out these other hip hop
styles to find the best substitute for the missing style.
If you highlight the missing style “_OMENS+,” you will also see a list of the RealTracks and RealDrums used. This is useful as
you may have many of the RealTracks and can use this to add them to the style that you do choose.

StylePicker Enhancements
A style chosen as a prototype always shows in the list, even with a filter applied. For example, if you make _CHILPOP a
protype by right-clicking it and choosing Mark as Prototype and sort by Similar Styles to from the menu, then you will see a list
of styles compatible with CHILPOP.

42 Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box 2023

Now, if you type an unusual filter, like “dsfsdfsdf” that no style will contain, you won’t lose the prototype style as it will always
display.

4-bar preview is now settable to 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28 or 32 bars.

If you want more than 4 bars as a preview, press the [Action] button and select Set Dialog
Options from the menu. This will open the StylePicker Options dialog. With the “# bars for preview” option, select a number
of bars. If you select 16, for example, then the checkbox in the StylePicker will show “16 bar preview.”

Double-click on a style can be set to play the Chord Sheet chords instead of the pre-made demo. To set this, open the
StylePicker Options dialog by pressing the [Action] button and selecting Set Dialog Options, and enable the “Double click on
style plays Chord Sheet instead of pre-made demo.”

A progress bar will show at the top of the StylePicker during style rebuild.

Style rebuild first shows a dialog to confirm RealTracks and RealDrums folder locations.

If a style is not found, the StylePicker will launch and suggest replacement styles. (This is described in the “Help for Style Not
Found” section.)
The [Action] button - Reset Dialog to Default menu item sets both the StylePicker main screen and the StylePicker Options
dialog to defaults.

Generate Intros Using Song Chords

An option is added to incorporate the chords in any section into the intro. For example, you can use the last 4 bars of the song as
an intro.
Let’s use a demo song for _CHILPOP.STY, which doesn’t have an intro.

Then, open the Generate Chords for Intro dialog (Edit | Song Form | Generate Chords for Intro), and select 4 bars from the
bar 21 for the new “Use Chords from Bar” option.

Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box 2023 43

Now, when you press the [(Re)-Generate Intro Chord] button, you will get an intro that uses the last 4 bars, which works well.

More Track’s Right-Click Menu Items

Menu items are added to the track’s right-click menu.
- Track Actions | Auto… (Re-Regenerate Parts of RealTracks) (Ctrl+F8)
- Track Actions | Regenerate Window (Al+F8)
- Track Actions | Cut Riff
- Track Actions | Copy Riff
- Track Actions | Paste Riff
- Track Actions | Paste Riff - Relative to Copy Point
- Track Actions | Paste N copies of Riff
- Track Actions | Paste Riff - Merge with underlying audio
- Track Actions | Erase Riff (range of MIDI Track and RealTracks)
- Track Actions | Copy/Move Tracks
- Edit MIDI | Adjust Octave of Notes to Fit Note Range
- Edit MIDI | Generate Chord Track on this Track
- (Drums track) Find a Drums Sub for Style

Track Settings and Action Dialog Enhancements

The dialog that opens with the T Enter keys has a new button for various MIDI editing commands like transpose, generate
chord track, transpose octave to note range, etc.

44 Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box 2023

 There is also a new button to copy/move tracks.
Summary Section in “What Add-ons do I have?” Dialog
The dialog that opens with the Help | What add-ons do I have? menu item or the StylePicker’s [Add-ons] button lists the
percentage (%) of RealTracks, RealDrums, Styles and add-on styles with links to pgmusic.com with more information.

For example, on this installation you can see that:

- 100% of RealTracks and RealDrums are found
- 100% of Xtra Styles Sets are found
- 75% of XPro Styles Sets are found
In addition, there are buttons to launch pgmusic.com site with pages of more information and download information.
Pre-made “Showcase” Audio Demos for Playable RealTracks and RealDrums
These show how the Playable sound (MIDI.sfz) compares to the audio RealTracks and RealDrums, by playing 4 bars of
Playable sound, then 4 bars of Playable sound with a band, then 4 bars of RealTracks with a band.
Press the [PT] button in the Notation window and choose the Select a new Playable SFZ Sound menu item, or right-click on the
track button and go to Select MIDI Instrument (Patch) | Select Hi-Q MIDI Patch Plugin.

Now double-click or press the green PLAY button to hear a demo. The demos of the Playable RealTracks allow you to compare
the original RealTracks (real musicians and instruments) with the MIDI sound playing the same part, by playing 4 bars of
Playable sound, then 4 bars of Playable sound with a band, then 4 bars of RealTracks with a band.

Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box 2023 45

Playable Tracks Enhancement
You can now easily increase/decrease volume of the playable MIDI sounds.
Pressing the [PT] (Playable Track) button in the Notation widow and choosing the menu item Set MIDI Volume and
Velocity of Playable Sound opens the dialog with an additional setting for the MIDI Velocity. The MIDI Volume setting is 0-90,
so if it is 90, you can’t make it higher, but the MIDI Velocity can be set separately and you can make that louder or softer.

Chord display for Nashville Notation and Roman Numerals now shows minor keys as 1m
For example, Am in the key of Am would be 1m. This is settable if you prefer 6m using the Display Options dialog.

Display Option of Red Lines in Bars on Chord Sheet

There is an option to hide the red lines in bars that have changes. This can be done per song or global setting. You can toggle the
setting back on when you want to see them again, but it gives the Chord Sheet a cleaner look when you are just playing songs.

You can control if you see these red lines on songs with bar changes. Use the “Red Line on Chord Sheet” option in the Edit
Settings for Current Bar dialog (F5).
The “All” checkbox applies to all songs and it’s enabled by default.
The “Auto/No/Yes” dropdown applies to the current song only and overrides the global setting. If
you select “No” when “All” is checked, you won’t see the red lines in the current song. If you select
“Yes” when “All” is unchecked, you will see the red lines in the current song. If “Auto” is selected,
the global setting will apply to the current song.
Notation Enhancements
The Notation window (Editable or Staff Roll mode) has hotkeys for changing note times left/right. When a note is highlighted in
red (using the Shift+Arrow R/L keys), use the Ctrl+Alt+Arrow R/L keys to change the note time +/- 5 ticks (120 ticks per
beat).

46 Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box 2023

 Note: Some graphics drivers may use the Ctrl+Alt+Arrow R/L keys to rotate the screen in 90 degrees right/left. If that’s the case, you need to
disable it in order to use those keys for changing note times in the Notation window. You can do this in your graphics control panel, which
opens by clicking on the desktop and selecting Graphics Properties.
Rests now transpose from treble to bass. For example, in this image the Melody track contains some rests on the treble clef.

If you visually transpose the song, the rests will display on the bass clef.

You can now highlight an area of non-editable notation.

The Lead Sheet can set the number of staves to one per page in Options.

There is a new notation setting for note colors: black/yellow (not a chord tone)/orange (not a chord tone & not a scale tone).
Notation Printing Enhancements
There is a new File menu item Print Song in Lead Sheet Mode that prints the song using the Lead Sheet options (such as fake
sheet). The hotkey is Ctrl+Shift+P. This is in addition to File | Print Song (Ctrl+P) that prints using the Notation window
options.

When you do not include staff lines in printout, there is an option to show chords above instead of inside each bar. This is set
with the “Regular chord pos when no staff lines” option.

Band-in-a-Box remembers all items in the Print Options dialog when returning to it and after reboot.
The Print Options dialog has hotkeys for [OK - Preview/Graphics] and others.
Print Range remembers last settings and uses that as default.
XML Enhancement
Importing a MusicXML file to Utility tracks is enhanced, so tracks don’t default to all going on the Melody track.

Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box 2023 47

New Hotkeys
Ctrl+A selects all in the various windows like Chord Sheet, Notation, Audio Edit and Piano Roll.
Alt+Shift+Z solos the current track on the Mixer.
L O G Enter opens the FlashMessageLog.txt.
(Audio Edit window) Ctrl+Shift+V mix-pastes audio.
(Audio Edit window) Shift+Delete deletes a region of audio.
(Piano Roll window) + (plus) increases velocities of the selected notes by 1.
(Piano Roll window) Shift++ (plus) increases velocities of the selected notes by 5.
(Piano Roll window) - (minus) decreases velocities of the selected notes by 1.
(Piano Roll window) Shift+- (minus) decreases velocities of the selected notes by 5.
(Piano Roll window) ~ (tilde) randomizes velocities of the selected notes (-1 to +1).
(Piano Roll window) Shift+~ (tilde) randomizes velocities of sthe elected notes (-5 to +5).
Miscellaneous
Search-and-Replace chords now sets to the selected area.
Songs loaded that previously had audio but no longer have audio files will remove the audio settings (tempo, transpose) from
the track.
You can now drop VST plugins (.dll files) onto the plugin selector dialog to add them to the Band-in-a-Box plugin lists.
A song setting to allow chord variations in repeated sections is added.
The DAW button turns red to clearly indicate the DAW plugin mode is currently on.
The “Select Hi-Q MIDI Patch Plugin” menu item always shows in the track button menu.
MIDI tracks that use their own MIDI plugin display VU meters based on audio output rather than estimated MIDI events.
The color selection combo box in the Display Options dialog is now bigger.
In the Piano Roll window, drawing in velocity area only affects selected notes if applicable.
Increase/decrease note velocity adjusting features are added to the Piano Roll window. These can be accessed from the right-
click menu or hotkeys.
Many Accessibility Enhancements
See the list at https://www.pgmusic.com/bbwin.new.accessibility.htm
Feature Browser
The Feature Browser (accessed from the / Enter keys) is updated to include the latest 2023 features.
There is a new button to filter the list to show the latest 2023 features. You can add keywords to find new features for topics of
interest.

48 Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box 2023

Thank you for taking time to read this introduction to Band-in-a-Box 2023!

Chapter 3: Band-in-a-Box 2023 49

 Chapter 4: The Main Screen
Main Screen Overview
Band-in-a-Box supports Windows® themes. It will use the current theme that you have selected in the Windows® Control Panel
to use for windows and dialogs.
The main screen gives direct access to the major features and program settings of Band-in-a-Box for ease and convenience
during a session.
There are seven different areas on the main screen.
1→
2→
3→
4→ ←6
5→

7→

1. The Status Bar is used to show program running status messages and path names of the currently loaded song. This area
also includes the Menu Bar, with typical Windows® menus for the program settings. Immediately below it are the Track
buttons, where instruments are assigned and sounds are chosen. Right-click on the instrument names to open a menu of
settings for that instrument.
2. The Main Tool Bar has buttons for direct access to important program features and menus. Hold the mouse cursor on any
button to see a pop-up hint that describes its function.
3. The Song Panel includes the song title and all the other settings for the song such as its Key Signature, Tempo, and Chorus
settings. The [Song] and [Style] buttons offer various ways of selecting songs and styles, including the SongPicker and
StylePicker dialogs.
4. The Function Tool Bars are organized into groups of buttons for related features such as Transport, Tools, Views, and
Tracks.
5. The Progress Bar displays a timeline for the current song.
6. The Mixer provides live control of parts with Volume, Pan, Reverb, and Tone settings. It also supports the assignment of
plug-ins and patches to individual parts and has a piano keyboard display.
7. The Chord Sheet occupies the lower part of the screen. Chord changes for the song are typed into the numbered bars (cells)
in the sheet. Part markers (a, b, through x) are entered here to switch between up to 24 Band-in-a-Box substyles. Repeats and
endings are also shown.
The Band-in-a-Box window is resizable. When the window size changes, the Chord Sheet, Notation, and other windows redraw
in proportion to the new size. This allows you to have Band-in-a-Box open as a small window on screen with other programs,
and you still see a full Chord Sheet. The screen size is remembered between sessions. To resize the window, first unmaximize it.
Then use the sizing control at the bottom right. The various Band-in-a-Box windows will scale as you do this. Band-in-a-Box
will remember the position and size of the window between sessions.
Yellow Alert Messages and Green Action Messages
You will see that many Band-in-a-Box messages appear as “yellow alerts” at the bottom right of the screen. That way you don’t
have to respond to the message, interrupting work flow. If the message box is green instead of yellow, it’s an “action” message
and you can click on it to perform the action described, such as loading a substitute style. The green action messages have a
close button, which is useful for closing them without performing the action.
Tip: You can change the flash message colors in
the Display Options dialog (Options | Preferences
| [Display]).

Descriptive Hints
The pop-up hints are comprehensive fly-by hints that appear when you move over
an item, including hints for the dialog boxes and various windows.

50 Chapter 4: The Main Screen

 Go to Options | Preferences or click on the [Prefs] toolbar button to open the Preferences dialog and then set the type of
hints to display, the time delay, and duration.
Set a longer delay if you find that the hints are popping up too often and getting in
your way. Clicking on Flash Tips will perform the suggested action.

Status Bar

The name of the open song is identified in the status bar at the top of the screen. The full file name and path name are shown, as
well as audio track information if present, the length of the song in minutes and seconds, and the current position of the
highlight cell. Other “running status” messages such as Soloist Generation and Song Generation display in the status bar.
The status bar changes during playback to show additional information like the current bar and chorus location and the current
style. The on-screen file name includes “*” when a file has been changed.

Track Buttons

This bar shows tracks in Band-in-a-Box, including:

- The Melody track, where you can record your own MIDI melody. Or just use it as a sequencer track to record any MIDI track.
- The Soloist track, for solos generated by the Band-in-a-Box Soloist. This track can also be used as a MIDI sequencer track if
not needed for a solo.
- The Thru track for play-along on an outboard MIDI device or with the Band-in-a-Box Wizard feature.
- The Audio track for your recorded vocal or instrumental part, or an imported audio file.
The color of the track name indicates its type or state.
- White indicates that the track is empty and is not in use.
- Yellow indicates a MIDI track playing a Band-in-a-Box MIDI part.
- Green indicates a RealTrack. If the track name is underlined, it also has RealChart notation. If [V] is shown, the track has a
video RealTracks.
- Blue indicates a MIDI SuperTracks.
- Orange is an Audio Performance track.
- Red means that the track has been muted. When one of the tracks is being soloed, all other tracks will change color to red.
- For the Audio track, orange shows that an audio recording is present on the track.
If you have customized the track settings of a song (e.g., by overriding the settings in a style and putting a different RealTracks),
it will be indicated by an equal sign in the track name by an (e.g., =Piano).
With previous versions of Band-in-a-Box, the tracks were always called the same names “Bass, Piano, Drums, Guitar, and
Strings.” Now the names match the styles, and if the 2 tracks have the same name, numbers will follow. For example, if you
load in the Slow Bluegrass Waltz style, you will see these names: Bass, Guitar 1, Mandolin, Guitar 2, Banjo.
Note: If you prefer the “default” track labels (Bass/Piano/Drums/Guitar/Strings/Melody/Soloist), uncheck the “Auto-Generate Track Labels”
option in the Preferences dialog or the Mixer’s settings tab.
RealDrums can be added to any track, not just the Drums track, so you can have more than one drums track. To do this, right-
click on the track button and select Choose RealDrums from the menu. When there are multiple drums tracks, they will be
automatically called Drums 1, Drums 2 etc.
Utility Tracks
In addition to the tracks shown on the track button bar, there are 16 editable Utility tracks, which can be used for audio and/or
MIDI. You can generate RealTracks, RealDrums, Loops, MIDI SuperTracks, etc. on the Utility tracks. You can record audio or
import an audio file to the Utility tracks to play, edit, or harmonize the audio. You can copy or move audio, MIDI, or both from
other tracks to the Utility tracks. You can record MIDI or import a MIDI file to the Utility tracks for playback, notation display,
or editing.
Master Button Menu
Right-click on the Master button to open a menu of commands.
Mute and Un-Mute All will mute or unmute all tracks.
Export Song as Audio File will render the tracks together into one audio file or render them as individual audio files.

Chapter 4: The Main Screen 51

Song has changed, needs regeneration will regenerate a new arrangement for all tracks.
You can Render Song to Audio Track, which mutes the individual tracks and plays the rendered audio wave, or you can Un-
Render Song from Audio Track, which will erase the audio track and play the individual tracks again.
The Freeze and Un-freeze commands apply to all tracks.
If you like the current mix (of volumes, panning, reverb), and you want this applied as a default for all songs, choose Save
Current Mix as Default. Load Default Mix restores the default mix you have saved, and Reset Mix sets the mix back to “factory
defaults.”
Set Mix to Flat, Dry and Center sets the song to Flat (all volumes=90), Dry (no Reverb) and Center panning. This is useful when
rendering individual tracks and transferring to a DAW.
The Set Song to Simple Arrangement checkbox makes the RealTracks play a simpler (less busy or embellished) arrangement.
This Song Volume Boost (range -36 to +36dB) opens a dialog where a dB value can be entered that will affect only the current
song. For reference, 6dB is generally considered to be double the volume; -6dB would be half the volume.
All Songs Volume Boost (range -36 to +36dB) opens a dialog where a dB value can be entered to adjust the overall volume of all
songs. A setting of 6dB is twice as loud, -6dB half as loud.
Render Video(s) allows you to make a video of RealTracks that are selected for your song, optionally with the chord sheet or the
corresponding notation.
Track Buttons Menu
Right-click or double-click on a track button for a menu of settings and actions for the selected track. The menu is organized
into groups allowing easier selection of track types: audio (RealTracks, UserTracks, Loops) or MIDI (MIDI SuperTracks,
classic MIDI tracks) and track settings/actions.
Track Settings and Actions Dialog opens a convenient “one-stop-shopping” dialog where you can select RealTracks, Loops,
MIDI SuperTracks, etc., set volume/ reverb/panning/tone, mute, solo, freeze, and do many other things for all 24 tracks.
Arm Track for Audio Input Monitoring allows live audio input monitoring. When the track is armed, blue borders are drawn
around the VU meters on the Mixer and you can monitor audio input along with the effects that you select on that track. For
example, if you want to add a tremolo effect to your recording, right-click on the first slot in the Mixer, select Choose Plugin
from the menu and select a tremolo effect. Now, when you sing or play an instrument though the microphone, you will see it on
the VU meters and you will hear it along with the tremolo effects.
Select RealTracks shows menu options to generate RealTracks.
Select RealTracks generates the track as a RealTrack using any available RealTracks instrument.
Find Best Sub will allow you to find a replacement that is similar to the currently selected RealTracks.
Select Best “All” RealTracks will show all RealTracks, sorted by best to worst for the current style, and Select Best
“Chording” RealTracks shows the list for comping (i.e., Chording, non-Soloist) RealTracks.
Select Best “Soloist” RealTracks to add a best Soloist to any track.
Choose RealTracks from Recently Chosen Favorites opens a list of recently used RealTracks.
Choose No RealTracks for this track will remove the current selection from the track.
Generate seven variations of WAVs (for whole/part of song) will generate 7 variations of WAVs from the same RealTracks for
either a portion of the song or the whole song. Once the files are generated, they can be accessed from the Drop Station.
Add extra bar before and after the WAVs (for pickup notes) adds an extra bar before the WAV begins to ensure that the
“pickup” (early) notes will be heard. It does not add an extra bar at the end of the WAV unless there are trailing notes.
Select a UserTracks for this track lets you assign a track from the list in your UserTracks folder. UserTracks work like
RealTracks but are created from the user’s own audio recordings.
You can play an audio loop (your own or third party) on any track with the Select a Loop for this track command.
Choose RealDrums allows you to add RealDrums to any track, not just the Drums Track.
Select Guitar/Bass Amp Plugin will list all available TGS files for guitar/bass amp plugins. (Note: This menu item will be
shown on an audio track.)
Select MIDI Instrument (Patch) is used to assign an instrument to a MIDI track from the Hi-Q patch list, the General MIDI
patch list, the General MIDI 2 patch list, the higher bank patches on your particular synthesizer, or from a preselected list of
favorite patches. Use the Select Hi-Q MIDI Patch Plugin command to select a preset of a Hi-Q instrument and a VST plugin
(e.g., sforzando). (Note: This menu item will be shown on a MIDI track only.)
Select MIDI SuperTrack for this track opens a list of available MIDI SuperTracks. They can be used in the same way as
RealTracks.
Select Custom MIDI Style for this track lets you play your favorite MIDI track from any style on any track of your current style,
including the Melody and Soloist tracks. The track you assign doesn’t have to be the same instrument, i.e., you could assign a
Guitar to the Strings track.

52 Chapter 4: The Main Screen

Track Settings
XXX track is enabled. This command is the easy way to disable/enable a track, even during song playback. To disable a track,
right-click on the track name (at top of the screen or on the mixer) and select enable/disable the track. When a track is disabled,
the color is dark gray on the main screen and on the mixer.
You can Mute or Solo the individual part. Solo mutes all but the soloed part.
Un-Mute All is useful to restore all other parts after a track has been soloed.
Freeze the track if you do not want the track regenerated on each play. Tracks can be unfrozen.
Force Track to simple arrangement makes the RealTracks play a simpler (less busy or embellished) arrangement.
Set track to avoid transpositions allows the RealTracks to avoid transposition. This will produce higher quality sound but less
variation.
Set Track offset allows the track to be moved ahead or behind by +/- 1000 ticks (at a resolution of 120 PPQ).
Track Timebase allows you to select a timebase (normal/half/double/triple) for RealTracks or RealDrums tracks.
Set Natural Arrangement allows re-interpretation of chords for the selected track of the current song.
Duplicate RealTracks (to thicken sound) duplicates the currently selected RealTracks on the track. You can then set the stereo
panning for each sub-track to achieve a fuller sound.
Rename track title allows you to change the track label for the selected track.
Change track description allows you to change the track description.
Display dB instead of MIDI Volume allows you to see the Volume and Panning levels in the Mixer as decibels instead of MIDI
levels. (Note: If you cannot change this setting, you need to enable the “Display dB Setting for Individual Tracks” option in
the Global Song Override dialog.)
MIDI Channel allows you to re-route MIDI events to the selected channel.
Auto-Fix “Sour” Notes is a feature that auto-fixes out-of-tune notes in polyphonic audio, either for the generated RealTracks
or any audio track. This means that if a chord is played with multiple notes at once, this feature can fix certain notes within that
chord so that the note won’t clash with the chord progression or other tracks. You can choose one of the following rules.
Song Chords: Any note outside of the current chord will be corrected to a closest chord tone. For example, if a G# note is
played on a CMaj7 chord (C, E, G, B), that note will be pitch shifted to a G note.
Song Key Signature: Any note outside of the key signature of the song will be corrected to a closest key tone. For example,
an Eb note played on a C major key (C, D, E, F, G, A, B) will be pitch shifted to an E note.
Song Key Signatures and Chords: Notes will be restricted to the key tones unless the current chord is outside of the current
key, in which case notes will be restricted to the chord tones. For example, on a C major key (C, D, E, F, G, A, B), an E note
played on a Dm7 chord (D, F, A, C) won’t be corrected, but an E note played on an F7 chord (F, A, C, Eb) will be pitch
shifted to the closest chord tone F.
Specific Scale or Chord: Notes will be corrected based on a specific scale or chord that might not have anything to do with
the current song. This option will use the scale or chord that are selected in a dialog which opens with the next menu item.
Choose specific Parameters: This allows you to customize the rules.
Following menu items are available for the tracks that contain audio.
Set Base Tempo allows you to set the tempo of the audio so that tempo stretches will be based on the correct master tempo.
Conform to Playback Tempo allows the track to conform to the tempo of the song during playback. For example, if the base
tempo of a Utility track is 120 and the tempo of the song is 140, then that track will be tempo stretched
Transpose by Semitones allows you to transpose the audio by a certain number of semitones.
Transpose Automatically when Changing Song Key: Check this menu item if you want the audio transposed automatically
when you change the song key.
Edit MIDI shows submenus to let you edit the MIDI track.
Event List Editor opens a window that lists MIDI events on the track.
Quantize, Time Adjust shows menu items for adjusting the note locations.
Transpose shows menu items for transposing the track.
Form shows menu items for copying the first chorus to all other choruses, erase notes from a specified chorus, etc.
Adjust Velocity of Notes lets you adjust velocity of notes in the track.
Adjust Octave of Notes to fit Note Range transposes the notes so that they enter the note range specified. For example, if you
have a bass MIDI track and the notes are going too low for your MIDI patch, then you can transpose to the instrument range,
and notes will have the octave raised as needed. When you select this menu item, you will be given two dialogs. In the first
dialog enter a note number that will be the lowest of the range, and in the next dialog enter a note number that will be the
highest of the range. The track will be transposed for any note that is below or above your range so that it is within the range.

Chapter 4: The Main Screen 53

 Generate Chord Track on This Track is for use with a VST (e.g., arpeggiators want a chord track) or for simple “pad” (held
chords) tracks. A chord track can be generated on any track. When you select this menu item, you will see a dialog with
options for channel, velocity, note range, chord types, ticks before the chord change, and output chords during lead in. If the
chord types are set to “triads, 7ths only,” a chord like C13 will be played as a C7, but if they are set to “complex chords,” a
C13 chord will be played as C13. The default setting for “# ticks before chord change to output” is 0, which means chords will
be exactly on the downbeat, but if you enter a number other than 0, the chords will start a little bit earlier and may have
sufficient time to swell.
Track Actions
(re)Generate this RealTrack (re)generates the track with the selected RealTrack.
(Re)-Generate Part of RealTracks (MultiRiff) allows you to interactively create sections of RealTracks by choosing from
multiple candidates (up to 20).
Auto... (Re)-Generate Part of RealTracks F8 (re)generates the highlighted region of RealTracks. This generates a different part
each time, so you can keep regenerating to find the best replacement.
Regenerate Window Alt+F8 opens a floating window which allows you to customize the regeneration.
Revert Track to Style Instrument removes any custom instrument you have chosen for the track and revert to the instrument in
the style.
Cut Riff removes a range of RealTracks riff and copies it to the clipboard.
Copy Riff copies a range of RealTracks riff to the clipboard.
Paste Riff pastes the copied riff to the current location, overwriting the existing riff
Paste Riff - Relative to Copy Point pastes the copied riff to the same relative location in the bar as the copied portion. For
example, if the copied riff started at beat 2, the relative paste will start at beat 2.
Paste N copies of Riff pastes the copied riff to the current location and repeats the paste by the specified number of times.
Paste Riff - Merge with underlying audio pastes the copied riff to the current location and merges it with the existing riff so
you will hear both riffs.
Erase Riff (range of MIDI and RealTracks) erases a region of RealTracks and related MIDI notation.
Erase Track removes either the MIDI data or RealTracks audio from the track.
Unassign stem removes a RealDrums stem from the track. (Note: This menu item is grayed out for track that are not showing
the stems icon on the Mixer.)
Copy/Move Tracks allows copying or moving data (audio and/or MIDI) from one track to another.
Save track as WAV File allows you to save RealTracks or MIDI tracks to any drive or folder you choose as WAV files, e.g.,
“Untitled Song BBGuitar_MIDI_SingleRender.WAV”
Save track as Performance File (wav/wma) renders the track to your choice of a WAV file or a WMA file. When you choose,
the track will be rendered to C:\bb\<Song Title><track name>(e.g., Bass).WAV or .WMA.
Render Video(s) allows you to make a video of RealTracks that are selected for your song, optionally with the chord sheet or the
corresponding notation.

Toolbars
The toolbar buttons give quick access to program features. They are grouped according to function.

Toolbar Modes
There are three modes for the toolbar.
You can switch the toolbar modes using the Mode Selector buttons at the top left of the screen.
1. Smaller, configurable toolbar with tabbed interface.

Tip: If you want to see the buttons in color, open the Display Options dialog (Options | Preferences | [Display] and press the [Choose Skin]
button.
In this mode, the [CUSTOM] tab lets you select and add buttons in the order that you want. First, click on the [+] button on
the right to open a palette of buttons. Then, while holding down the Ctrl key, drag buttons around to add, remove, or set the
order.

54 Chapter 4: The Main Screen

2. Taller toolbar, with fixed on-screen Mixer, useful for people with hi-res screens.
3. DAW mode. This makes a small screen, always on top. This is useful when you drag-and-drop tracks to your favorite
DAW.
Drop Station

The Drop Station is used to drag and drop tracks from Band-in-a-Box to Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) that don’t
support direct drag and drop. Many DAWs will allow you to do this directly, but, if your sequencer does not support the direct
drop of a track that is not yet generated, you can drag from a radio button (Master, Bass, Piano, etc.) to the Drop Station.
The Drop Station shows six different file types. Your file will be rendered to the file type you drop it in and the button will
change color to orange, indicating that the file is accepted and being prepared.
When you drop the track to the [+] in the center, you are presented with a dialog, where you can choose a file format and other
render options. (See Chapter 13 for details.)
When the button turns bright green, the track has been generated and is ready to drag from the Drop zone to your DAW.
The Drop panel has a right-click menu, allowing you to copy the resulting file to a favorite folder, open the favorite folder,
start/stop the DAW Plug-in mode, upload to Dropbox, and more.
The [DAW Plugin] button has two menu items. One starts or ends the plug-in mode, which lets you drag and drop MIDI or
audio files from Band-in-a-Box to your DAW or Explorer. The other opens a Plugin Settings dialog, which controls drag ‘n’
drop operations.
File
This area is for file functions like Open, Save, etc.

The [New] button clears the Chord Sheet to start a new song. Band-in-a-Box reminds you to save your work before it erases the
chords.
The [Open] button shows a menu to open songs into the program using various methods.
Use the [Prev] button to immediately open the previous song in the same folder (in alphabetical order) without going through
the usual file opening process. The hotkeys are Ctrl+Shift+F8.
Use the [Next] button to instantly open the next song in the same folder (in alphabetical order) without going through the usual
file opening process. The hotkeys are Shift+F8.
The [Save] button saves the song to disk with the standard Windows® Save As dialog.
The [Save As] button will show a menu to save a song using various methods.
The [.MID] button allows you to make a standard MIDI file and save it to disk as a file with extension .MID or to the
Windows® clipboard with type “Standard MIDI File.” Type 0 and Type 1 MIDI files are supported, or you can also choose to
save the song as a Karaoke file with the .KAR extension.
The [.WAV] button shows a menu with options to save the song as an audio file.
Use the [Print] button to launch the Print Options dialog, which allows you to print Lead Sheet or Fake Sheet style notation.
The [Prefs] button will open the Preferences dialog, where you can set various settings all at once and access most of the
program options. The hotkeys are Ctrl+E.
The [Sound] button launches either the Windows® Play control for sound output or the Windows® Record control for the
recording input.
The [Plugins] button has a menu to set options for VST/DX plugins, to open the default VSTi/DXi software synthesizer, and to
open the PG Music Reverb dialog.
Use the [MIDI] button to launch various MIDI options and also to enable the MIDI keyboard Wizard for playing along on the
lower two rows of the QWERTY keyboard during playback.
The [StyleMaker] button will show menu options to edit or make styles.
The [Practice] button will show menu options for various practice features.
The [Tuner] button opens the Guitar Tuner so you can tune a guitar or other instrument that is plugged into the sound card.
Click on the [Video Help] button for a link to video demonstrations and tutorials.
The [New Features] button will launch an internet browser and open the new feature tutorial page.
The [?] button will open the Feature Browser, which lists many features in Band-in-a-Box.
Song
This area is for information related to the current song, such as current style, tempo, key, form, etc.

Chapter 4: The Main Screen 55

The [Song] button lets you load a song. This is a split button. The top half of the button uses the default method to load a song.
The bottom half shows a menu of different methods to load a song and allows you to set the default action for the top.
The [Style] button is also a split button, with the top half being the default function, and the bottom half listing different
methods to load a style and allows you to set the default.
The song title is displayed, and you can type in the name in this box. Directly below the song title, the style display shows the
style name and more information about the style.
The [Song Settings] button opens a dialog with settings to use for a polished song arrangement, including a tag (coda),
automatic endings, style variations and more.
The [Memo] button opens a dialog where you can type any information about your song.
The Start control shows the bar where the chorus begins. Click on it, and click on a bar number or type a number in the dialog
to select the first bar of the chorus.
The End control shows the bar where the chorus ends. Click on it and then click on a bar number or type in the dialog to select
the last bar of the chorus. By default, the end bar for new songs is 32, but you can change this default in the Arrangement
Options dialog.
The Choruses control shows the number of choruses. Click on it and choose the number of choruses (up to 40). By default, new
songs default to 1 chorus, but you can change this default in the Arrangement Options dialog.
The Feel control shows the feel (swing or even, and 8th of 16th) of the song. This is determined by the selected style.
The TimeSig control shows the time signature of the song. You can click on it to change the time signature for the whole song
or the selection region of the song.
The Key control is used to set the key or to change it and transpose the song. When you press it, you see 2 columns of keys. The
first column will set the key AND transpose the song; the second will just set the key signature. The Visual Transpose setting is
displayed in a small font next to the key. You can click on it to launch a menu for selecting the setting.
The BPM in the Tempo control shows the current song tempo. Left-click on the up/down arrows to change the tempo by +/- 5
beats per minute. Right-click to change it by +/- 1 bpm. Tempos can also be typed in directly. The % allows you to quickly set
the relative tempo. Click on the button and choose a percentage or use the Custom Tempo % menu item to set any value between
1% and 800%. 1% would be 1/100 of the original tempo and 800% would be 8 times the original tempo. Hotkeys are available:
Ctrl - (minus key) for half speed and Ctrl = for normal speed. Use the TAP buttons to count and set a tempo. Tap the [-] button
in tempo four times to set the tempo. It will appear in the tempo box. Tap the [=] button to count-in the song and start playback
at the tapped tempo. As you tap more than 4 times, the accuracy will improve (through averaging) and you can continue to tap
until the target tempo has been reached. For example, in a 4/4/ style, once you tap 4 times a tempo will be set. But you can keep
tapping and the tempo will change every beat, based on the average tempo that you have typed.
Transport
This area is for standard play controls, recording controls, Jukebox, and Conductor.

[Play] plays the song from the beginning without creating a new arrangement, unless regenerating is required.
[Generate and Play] generates a new Band-in-a-Box arrangement and then plays the song.
[Loop] plays the selected (highlighted) section of the Chord Sheet in a loop. The drop-down menu has settings for looping the
entire song.
The [Play from Bar] button is used to play a song starting anywhere in the song, including tags or endings. This feature is also
available from the right-click menu in the Chord Sheet.
The [Stop] button stops the song or the Jukebox from playing.
The [Pause/Continue] button pauses the song during playback. Press again to continue from the paused location.
The [Record MIDI] button is to record MIDI to your song. The hotkey is Ctrl+R.
The [Record Audio] button launches the Record Audio dialog for live audio recording.
The [Play Jukebox] button is used to start or stop the Jukebox. The [] and [] arrow buttons are used to move to either the
previous or next song in the Jukebox.
The [Conductor Window] button opens a window that allows live, real time QWERTY keyboard or MIDI control of the song
as it is playing.
The [Mixer Window] button opens a window that shows the current state of the tracks and allows easy changes or adjustments.
The hotkey is Ctrl+Shift+M.

56 Chapter 4: The Main Screen

Tools
This area is for miscellaneous Band-in-a-Box tools.

Press the [Chord Solo] button to launch the Guitarist dialog.

The [Generate Title] button will generate a song title or multiple songs for you.
The [Sequencer] button runs the Sequencer for control of multi-channel Melody or Soloist track. Each track can record up to 16
separate channels.
The [Chord Options] button opens the Chord Options dialog, where you can add pushes, rests, shots, and holds for chords in
any given bar. The hotkeys are Alt+F.
The [Chord Builder] button launches the Chord Builder, which allows you to enter chords by ear without having to know the
actual chord names or any music theory. The hotkeys are Ctrl+Shift+B.
The [Bar Settings] button opens the Edit Settings for Current Bar dialog, which allows you to enter changes to the arrangement
at any bar or chorus. The hotkey is F5.
The [Song Form] button shows a menu with options to open the Song Form Maker dialog to control the form of your song,
create a medley of your songs, auto-generate an intro, or add repeats and 1st/2nd endings to your song.
The [Embellish Melody] button allows you to enable the melody embellisher or open a dialog for customizing the melody
embellisher.
Views
This area is for the Chords, Notation, Guitar, Piano, Lyrics windows and more.

The [Notation] button toggles between the Notation window, where you can enter chords and lyrics, edit notation, and view
MIDI notation, and the Chord Sheet, where you enter chords for your song. The hotkeys are Ctrl+W. Holding the Shift key
when pressing the button opens a moveable window.
The [Chord Sheet] button displays the Chord Sheet window. This is the default window in Band-in-a-Box, where you enter
chords.
The [Piano Roll] button launches the Piano Roll window for editing the Melody or Soloist tracks in a piano roll format,
including graphic controller editing. Holding the Shift key when pressing the button opens a moveable window.
The [Audio Edit] button opens the Audio Edit window, which displays a graphical waveform and allows editing. The hotkeys
are Ctrl+Shift+A. Holding the Shift key when pressing the button opens a moveable window.
The [Audio Chord Wizard] button opens the Audio Edit window and launches Audio Chord Wizard, which will automatically
figure out the chords from an audio file.
The [Lead Sheet] button opens a full-screen notation window with optional Fake Sheet mode that shows 1st and 2nd endings,
repeats, and codas. The hotkeys are Alt+W
The [Guitar] button launches the Guitar window that displays guitar notes as music is playing. The hotkeys are Ctrl+Shift+G.
The [Big Piano] button launches the Big Piano window. It will display the notes to any track (except drums) as the music is
playing. The hotkeys are Ctrl+Shift+N.
The [Drums] button launches the animated Drum Kit window. The hotkeys are Ctrl+Shift+D.
The [Video] button opens a menu with options to open the Video window and the Generate Video dialog.
The [Big Lyrics] button is to open various lyrics windows (Big Lyrics window for full screen “Karaoke-style” scrolling lyrics,
the Lyric Document window, and Karaoke window) and to generate vocal synth from the lyrics and melody.
When the [FakeSheet] button has a checkmark, the Chord Sheet displays repeats, 1st/2nd endings, coda, etc. Pressing the button
will show a menu with options to toggle the fakesheet/linear mode, add repeats to the song, auto-detect repeats in the song, and
enable repeats display globally.
The [Chord Display] button shows a menu to select the chord font, chord color, type of chord display (standard, Roman
numeral, Nashville, etc.) and a list for visually transposing the notation for non-concert instruments.
Tracks
This area includes methods of adding tracks to Band-in-a-Box (RealTracks, Loops, UserTracks, etc.)

The [RealTracks] button allows you to select RealTracks, set RealTracks preferences, select better RealTracks for the song
tempo, and replace MIDI styles with RealTrack styles.

Chapter 4: The Main Screen 57

The [RealDrums] button shows a menu with options to open various RealDrums selection dialogs and set the RealDrums
preferences.
The [UserTracks] button displays a dialog of available UserTracks, which are like RealTracks but are made by you or third
parties.
The [Loops] button is for the Loops Picker, where you can choose an audio loop (e.g., nature sound, drum loop, etc.) to any
track. (Tip: You can add your own loops to the Loops folder in the RealTracks folder.)
The [MIDI Tracks] button is for choosing a MIDI SuperTrack or using the MIDI Track Picker to add a MIDI track from a
different style to the current song.
The [Freeze] button opens a list of tracks with the option to freeze or unfreeze all tracks or just freeze individual tracks. Frozen
tracks play without regenerating for faster playback. This button also allows you to force tracks to simple arrangements.
The [Simple] button allows you to force any tracks or all tracks to play with simple arrangements. You can set this for the
current song or all songs.
The [Harmony] button allows you to add MIDI harmonies to the Melody or the Thru/Soloist track, giving you harmonies for
your live playing on the Thru channel or QWERTY wizard.
The [Melodist] button opens the Melodist dialog, where you can choose the type (or genre) of Melodist you wish to have
generate a new song with chord changes and melody as well as an improvised solo and an original song title.
The menu for the [Soloist] button is to select a RealTracks Soloist from a list of best Soloists or to open the Soloist dialog,
where you can choose a custom Soloist (MIDI or RealTracks) to play over any given chord changes.

Progress Bar

This bar displays a timeline for the current song. The current time is marked with a gray vertical line. You can click on the bar
to move the current time to that point. Part markers are marked with colored (blue, green, etc.) vertical lines and the beginning
of each chorus is marked with outlines. You can double-click on the bar to start playback from that point.

Mixer
The Mixer window shows the current state of the tracks and allows easy changes or adjustments.

The window can be embedded in the main screen and is horizontally resizable to allow more room for the Chord Sheet,
Notation, Piano Roll, or Audio Edit window.
In the normal screen mode, the window can be embedded at the top right of the screen or the bottom right. You can set this with
the “Embedded Mixer Top Right” option in the Settings tab.
The small button at the top right corner will switch to the floating mode, which allows you to resize or move the window to
anywhere on the screen.
In the floating mode, you can change the window’s opacity. Left-click on these buttons to change the opacity by a
significant amount, or right-click on them to change it by a small amount.
You can select the tracks to display in the Mixer. Click on the “eye” button at the bottom right corner and check the tracks
to display.
The Mixer can scroll visible track panels. Use the arrow buttons at the bottom right corner, or the mouse wheel if it is not
used for controlling sliders and dials.
The Mixer automatically shows active tracks and hides unused tracks when playback starts. You can set this with the “Auto
Show/Hide Tracks When Starting Playback” option in the Settings tab.

58 Chapter 4: The Main Screen

You can change the track panel height by moving the mouse wheel while holding down the Ctrl key.
When resizing the window, the track panel height will be restricted to the customized settings. For example, if the maximum
panel height is set to a low value, then when you expand the window, there will be black portion below the track panels, but if
it’s set to a higher value, then when you expand the window, each track panel will be stretched to fill the window.
You can drag track labels from the Mixer and drop them to the Drop Station to render audio or MIDI files.
You can double-click on the track label to rename it.
Right-click on a track label for a menu of settings and actions for the selected track. The menu is organized into groups allowing
easier selection of track types: audio (RealTracks, UserTracks, Loops) or MIDI (MIDI SuperTracks, classic MIDI tracks) and
track settings/actions.
The window has five different screens for Mixer, Plugins, Piano, Patches, and Settings.
The default screen is Mixer.

In the Mixer screen, each individual track has settings for Volume, Pan, Reverb, and Tone that can be adjusted as the song is
playing. Volume, Pan, and Reverb are controlled by horizontal sliders. Tone is controlled by typing in a number from -18 (full
bass) to 18 (full treble), or by clicking on a number and dragging the mouse cursor vertically. You can also control the sliders
and dials with the mouse wheel while the mouse cursor is over them.
You can set Volume and Panning to display as decibels instead of MIDI values. This makes sense when you are mostly dealing
with RealTracks, RealDrums, and audio tracks. To display as decibels for all tracks, enable the “Display dB Instead of MIDI
Volume” option in the Settings tab. To set for each track, right-click on a track and select Track Settings | Display dB Instead of
MIDI volume.
Hold the Ctrl key down as you click on the track slider or drag the thumb of the slider. This will force all tracks to move to the
same absolute location as the original track. Hold the Shift key and it will move all tracks relative to the move of the original
track.
Double-clicking on the slider sets the value to a default value.
Each track has its own VU meter to show the sound level, and buttons to Mute, Solo and Freeze the track. The Mute
and Solo states of each track will be saved in the songs and will be loaded the next time you open them.
Right-clicking on the VU meter shows a menu with options for live audio input monitoring.
This is like “Audio Thru” and it routes incoming audio to Audio Out. When the Arm Track
menu item is checked, blue borders are drawn around its VU meters and you can monitor
your recording along with the effects that you select on that track. For example, if you want
to add a tremolo effect to your recording, right-click on the first slot in the Mixer, select
Choose Plugin from the menu, and select a tremolo effect.
The menu also has options to select an audio input. For example, if your audio interface has two inputs (right/left) and you want
to record from a microphone plugged into the right input, select the Mono Right to Stereo menu item.
For an audio track, a waveform button displays.
A stems button indicates that the track has a RealTracks/RealDrums stem loaded.
There is also a Master section with a Mute button, VU meters, and Master Volume controls.

The Master Volume applies a decibel (dB) boost to the master signal, independent of the tracks’ volumes. So, for example, if
you want all Band-in-a-Box songs to be louder, you can simply set the “All Songs” Master volume slider (e.g., to +6 dB) and
this boost will apply to audio output from all instruments (MIDI and audio) for all songs.
The [Plugins] screen allows you to assign up to four DX or VST plugins to each track.

MIDI tracks have 4 slots. The first slot can take a synthesizer (e.g., Sforzando, Coyote GM, Garritan Aria, and HyperCanvas)
and the other 3 can take audio effects (e.g., reverb, compression etc.).
Audio tracks have 4 slots. There is no synthesizer slot, so they have 4 for audio.

Chapter 4: The Main Screen 59

Click on a plugin name, and use the menu to choose a plugin, load or save a preset or a group of presets, change plugins
settings, and do more.
Note: A “group” includes presets for all four plugins on the track. This is
saved in a .tgs (Transform Group Settings) file.

Plugins Options
This dialog opens with the Plugins Settings menu item.
Scan for VST plugins on bootup: Enable this option
if you want Band-in-a-Box to scan for new VST
plugins every time it boots up. This only includes
plugins that have not been found previously.
Scan for DX plugins on bootup: Enable this option if
you want Band-in-a-Box to scan for new DX plugins
every time it boots up.
Automatically open plugin window when assigning:
If this is checked, a plugin’s window will open
automatically when you assign to a track. This only
applies if the Plugins dialog is open.
Do not allow keyboard input to plugin windows: Enabling this will prevent plugin windows from taking focus away from
Band-in-a-Box, so keyboard input always goes directly to the main program. Disable this if you are using plugins that use
keyboard input.
Allow jBridge for loading 32 bit VST plugins: If this is enabled, Band-in-a-Box will attempt to use jBridge to load 32 bit VST
plugins. Disable this option for troubleshooting or speeding up the plugin scans.
Automatically arrange plugin windows: Plugin windows can be arranged automatically according to the assigned track, and
the position in the plugin chain. It this option is disabled, then each plugin window will open at its previous position.
[Exclude MIDI Plugins] is for selecting the MIDI plugins to exclude. Excluded plugins will not show up in the lists and will
never be loaded by Band-in-a-Box.
[Exclude Audio Plugins] is for selecting the audio plugins to exclude. Excluded plugins will not show up in the lists and will
never be loaded by Band-in-a-Box.
[Exclude Plugins] allows you to choose specific VST plugin files that you do not want Band-in-a-Box to attempt to load when
scanning for new plugins.
[Add Plugins] allows you to select VST plugins individually, add/remove VST scan folders, or scan for VST plugins in a
specific folder.
Multiple plugins GUI windows can be used simultaneously. These can be accessed from the Plugins section of the Mixer. Right-
click on a plugin button to automatically show or hide the plugin’s GUI, or left-click and choose Show Plugin Window from the
menu.
Each MIDI track can send its MIDI output to another track. By default, all accompaniment tracks route to the default synth, but
you can choose a plugin on another track. This is accessed from the Plugin’s context menu on the Mixer.

MIDI plugin’s audio output can be controlled in the Mixer with 3 settings. This allows MIDI plugin’s sound to be controlled the
same way as audio tracks (RealTracks, RealDrums, etc.). These settings are accessed from the Plugin’s context menu on the
Mixer.

60 Chapter 4: The Main Screen

 Attenuate Synth Output Volume and Panning: This will change the
gain of the plugin’s audio output based on the Volume and Panning
controls on the Mixer. When this is enabled, MIDI controllers for
volume will not be sent to the plugin. This setting is useful for
plugins that do not respond to MIDI controllers.
Filter Synth Output: This will apply high/low-pass filtering to the
plugin’s audio output based on the Tone control on the Mixer.
Send Synth Output to Master Reverb: This will send the plugin’s
audio output to the Master Reverb based on the Reverb control on
the Mixer.

The [Pianos] screen shows the notes that are playing on each track on a piano keyboard.

The [Patches] screen shows full instrument names.

Clicking on any instrument name opens the menu for selecting or changing the instrument.
The Settings screen allows you to set options for the Mixer.

Undoable Mixer Changes: Changing Volume, Panning, Reverb, or Tone can

be cancelled with the Edit | Undo menu item.
Load Mute and Solo States with Songs: If this is enabled, the Mute and Solo
states of each track will be saved in the songs and will be loaded the next time
you open the songs.
Display dB Instead of MIDI Volume: With this option, you can see Volume
and Panning in decibels instead of MIDI values. This option can also be set
manually for each track with the right-click menu on the track name.
New Plugins Default to Mixer Control: When adding a new MIDI plugin,
“Attenuate Synth Output Volume and Panning,” “Filter Synth Output,” and
Send Synth Output to Master Reverb” settings will be enabled. These allow the
Mixer to control the plugin’s volume/panning/reverb/tone.
Allow Mouse Wheel to Control Sliders/Dials: If this is enabled, you can control the sliders and dials with the mouse wheel
while the mouse cursor is over them.
Auto Show/Hide Tracks When Starting Playback or Changing Styles: If this is checked, then when playback starts, active
tracks will be shown but unused tracks will be hidden.
Auto Minimize Floating Mixer When Starting Playback: If this is enabled, starting playback will reposition the Mixer to the
minimal size and position, and stopping playback will reposition back to the custom size and position.
Embedded Mixer Top Right: This option applies to the embedded Mixer in the normal screen mode. Enable this if you want
the Mixer positioned at the top right of the screen rather than the bottom right.
Auto Generate Track Labels: If this option is enabled, the Mixer will display auto-generated labels (e.g., Banjo, Harmonica,
etc.) instead of the default track labels (Bass, Piano, Melody, etc.)
Minimum Panel Height / Maximum Panel Height: With these options, the track panels will be restricted to a certain height
when resizing the Mixer.
Tempo/Pitch Stretching Quality: This allows you to select quality of the tempo and pitch stretching. You can select “High” if
you have a fast computer, but you should select “Low” if you have a slower computer and are hearing stuttering during
playback.

Chapter 4: The Main Screen 61

Chord Sheet
Chords, rests, shots, holds, and part markers are entered in the Chord Sheet.
The Chord Sheet can be viewed in the full linear view showing all bars, or optionally in fake sheet view that shows 1st and 2nd
endings and repeat signs. Another option shows bars past the end of the song in gray.

You can change the number of rows and columns displayed on the Chord Sheet with the zoom buttons at the bottom right.
You can also use the mouse wheel to change the number of rows and columns instantly.
- Moving the mouse wheel while holding the Ctrl key changes the number of rows.
- Moving the mouse wheel while holding the Shift key changes the number of columns.
You can use Tab and Shift+Tab keys to navigate through the Chord Sheet.
In the Chord Sheet, typing special words, instead of chord names, will make the following settings.
B E G I N Enter Sets the beginning of the chorus to the current bar.
C H O R U S E N D Enter Sets the end of the chorus to the current bar.
E N D Enter Sets the end of the song to the current bar.
T K C Enter Sets the key signature to C. (T K B B Enter would set it to Bb.)
T R C Enter Transposes song to key of C.
T 1 2 5 Enter Sets the tempo to 125.
[ Decreases the tempo by 5.
] Increases the tempo by 5.
You can quickly load a song by typing only. Type the word “song” followed by a file name or partial file name, and the song
will get loaded in. For example, type C:\a\MySong.sgu to load in that exact song name. Type “bossa” to load the first song with
bossa in the name AFTER the current song name, in the current folder.
Quick-load a style by typing “style” followed by a style name. For example, S T Y L E Z Z B O S S A Enter will load
zzbossa.sty.)
Time signature changes will be displayed on the Chord Sheet if the “Show
time signature changes” option is enabled in the Display Options dialog.

Fake Sheet Mode

Open the demo song “Repeats Tutorial example 2 with 1st-2nd and DC al Fine” from the C:\bb\Documentation\Tutorials\
Tutorial - Repeats and Endings folder.
To view the Chord Sheet in the Fake Sheet mode, press the [Fake Sheet] button on the toolbar and enable the
Display Chord Sheet in Fakesheet Mode menu item.

When you disable the Fake Sheet mode by pressing the [Fake Sheet] button and deselecting the Display Chord
Sheet in Fakesheet Mode menu item, the Chord Sheet will display in the full linear mode.
In this mode, you see all the bars in the order that they will be played.

62 Chapter 4: The Main Screen

Chord Entry
The basic way of entering a song into Band-in-a-Box is to type in the chords to the song on the Chord Sheet (worksheet). The
arrow keys move the active (highlighted) cell around in the Chord Sheet. The Enter key advances to the next ½ bar. Chords can
be entered from the QWERTY keyboard or an external MIDI keyboard (see Window | MIDI Chord Detection…).
Chords are typed in using any of the supported chord symbol displays:
1. Standard chord symbols (C, Fm7, Bb7, Bb13#9/E).
2. Roman numerals (Imaj7).
3. Nashville Notation (1Maj7).
4. Solfeggio (DoMaj7).
5. Fixed Do. In Italy and other parts of Europe, chords like C7 are always referred to by the Solfeggio name (Do7 for C7)
regardless of the key signature.
Notes: It is not necessary to type upper or lower case. The program will sort this out for you. Any chord may be entered with an alternate root
(“Slash Chord”) e.g., C7/E = C7 with E bass. Separate chords with commas to enter 2 chords in a 2-beat cell, e.g., Dm, G7

Chord Sheet Options

”Layers”
Layers are optional rows of information shown above each bar.

When there is no additional information within a row, that row will not show to maximize space on the Chord Sheet.
You can choose what to display for layers by clicking on the [Chord Display] button on the toolbar and selecting Layers.

- “Section Text” layer is for editable text (up to 255 characters per bar) that is loaded and saved with the song.

- “Bar Lyrics” layer is for editable bar-based lyrics (up to 255 characters per bar) that are loaded and saved with the song. This
layer also displays MicroChords (including Motifs and Rests), if you have set this in the Set MicroChords dialog.

Chapter 4: The Main Screen 63

- “Section Text” and “Bar Lyrics” layers will attempt to intelligently separate your lyrics into different bars. For example, if
you have a whole song of lyrics in Notepad and the lyrics for every bar are on separate lines, you can simply highlight the
entire block of text and paste it into Band-in-a-Box using Ctrl+V. Every line of text will occupy a separate bar. If the lyrics
have not been distributed into the correct bars, you can move your text cursor to the beginning of a bar and press Backspace
to move the lyrics to the previous bar. This will shuffle the text in the following bars one bar backward as well. Hitting Enter
will move all of the text after the text cursor to the next bar and shuffle the text in the following bars one bar forward. If you
wish to see more than one line within a bar, you can hold down Ctrl while using the Enter key, which forces a line break
(second line) within the bar.
- “Bar Settings” layer shows information about any changes that occur for that bar, as set in the Bar Settings dialog (e.g.,
tempo changes, key changes, etc.).

- “Additional Chord Display” layer shows the chords using the normal display or an alternative mode of showing root notes.
There are 4 alternative modes: Roman Numeral, Nashville Notation, Solfeggio Notation, and Fixed Do (Italy/Europe).

The height of this layer can be set as a percentage of the main chord using the “Height % of Additional Chord Display layer”
setting in the Display Options dialog. For example, you might want to see Nashville Notation as big as the main chord
display below it.
- The “Concert Key” option allows you to display an additional chord display of the same chords transposed to a different key.
So, for example, you can see two layers, one with concert chords, and the other for Bb instruments.
- All the layers can be customized with font and color in the Display Options dialog.
- Right-clicking in a layer has a menu with options to change height of the layer, close layer(s), copy/cut/paste, etc.
Display Options Dialog
You can set up the Chord Sheet with your own preferences.
Go to Options | Preferences or click on the [Prefs] toolbar button to open the Preferences, and then click on
the [Display] button to open the Display Options dialog. You can also right-click on the Chord Sheet and
select Display Options from the menu to open this dialog.

The colors all elements on the Chord Sheet can be

customized with the color palette in this dialog.
Use Gradients: This option gives the part markers
with a gradient look. This also makes smoother
seams between layers.
Draw part marker borders: This option lets you
choose whether a border around the part markers is
drawn or not.
Show bar numbers: This determines how often bar
numbers appear. Choices are: never, always, only at
part markers, or only at new rows.
Show bar lines: Check this option if you want to
see a bar line to left of bar numbers.
Show Time signature changes: Enable this to
show time signature changes on part markers.
Use substyle colors for bar #s, etc.: This option
controls the color of bar lines, bar numbers, and
section letters. If this is enabled, bars without part
markers will use the color of the current style. If this
is disabled, everything will be displayed using a
single color which is set for “Non-Part Marker
(text)” in the color picker.
Highlight selected cell: If this option is selected, the currently selected cell will be highlighted instead of just outlined. You can
change the highlighting color by selecting “Cell highlighting” in the color picker. This feature is useful for JAWS Screen Reader
users.
Bar Settings indicators: If you enable this, a line will be drawn below the bar number whenever there are Bar Settings (F5)
changes for that bar. The color of this line can be chosen with the “Bar Settings indicator” in the color picker. (Note: You can

64 Chapter 4: The Main Screen

override this setting for the current song using the Edit Settings for Current Bar dialog (Edit | Settings for Current Bar or the
F5 key).)
Enable display of Repeats/Endings allows repeats signs and 1st/2nd ending markers to be shown on the Chord Sheet.
Display bars higher than end of song in gray will “gray out” the bars on the Chord Sheet after the end of the song.
Show chords with push/rest characters: The push character is the caret symbol (^). So, a C chord with a push is displayed as
^C. The rest character is a period (.) so a C chord with a rest is displayed as C. (C period). If you prefer to not see these
characters displayed, then set this to false. These characters won’t show up on the printout regardless of this setting.
Show chords with pushes/rests in color: If this is enabled, pushes will be displayed in green and rests are displayed in red.
This only applies to the Chord Sheet, not the notation.
Display ‘C9sus’ as ‘C11’: This option allows display of “9sus” chords as “11” (e.g., Bb11 instead of Bb9sus). This only affects
how the chord is displayed, not how it is stored. And you can type either C11 or C9sus to enter the same chord.
Display ‘2’ as ‘sus2’ / Display ‘sus’ as ‘sus4’: These options will show suspended chords more explicitly. “sus” implies
“sus4,” and “2” implies “sus2,” but you might want to see the full extension name.
Treat ‘dim’ chord as a diminished triad (Cdim5) instead of Cdim7 controls if Cdim will represent Cdim5 or Cdim7. When
set, Cdim means the diminished triad (Cdim5) and the diminished 7th is entered as Cdim7.
For Roman Numerals of Chords in minor keys, use relative major: For minor keys, base roman numerals on the relative
major. For example, in key of Am, Am is either the Im chord or the VIm chord.
Gray out chords beyond time signature: This setting grays out chords that won’t play in the song. For example, if you switch
a song of 4/4 time signature to a waltz style, the chords on beat 4 will be grayed out.
Auto-open/close editable layers: If this is enabled, any editable layers (Bar Lyrics and Section Text layers) will automatically
open or close when you open a song.
Transpose: This will visually transpose the chord sheet and notation display by a number of semi-tones for concert or non-
concert instruments, either by typing in a number or choosing a preset. If a Chord Sheet or Notation window transpose setting is
in effect, a yellow hint message opens on boot up as a reminder.
Chord display: This setting allows you to choose a chord display for the main layer.
[Choose font]: This button allows you to choose a font, style, and size for the selected item in the combo box to the right.
Chord Sheet Font: This allows you to choose a font for the chords on the main layer. If you click on the [Jazz Symbols]
button, then “Jazz Chord Symbols” will be selected and you will see shorthand jazz chord symbols on the Chord Sheet. The
[Default font] button selects BigBand Chords. The [Custom] button allows you to choose the size as well.
Superscript chord extensions (main) / Superscript chord extensions (additional): The superscript feature shows the chord
extensions using smaller raised text. This makes the root of the chord more distinguishable, and also helps maximize space on
the Chord Sheet. “Superscript chord extensions (main)” is for extensions of the chords on the main layer, and “Superscript chord
extensions (additional)” is for extension of the chords on the additional layer.
Number of Columns: You can select the number of columns displayed on the Chord Sheet.
Number of Rows: The number of rows displayed on the Chord Sheet screen can be selected manually to best match your screen
size and resolution. This only applies if Auto-adjust # rows” is disabled.
Auto-adjust # rows: If this is set, when songs are loaded, the number of rows will change depending on the number of bars in
the song, and the number of rows will vary within the supplied range between “min rows” and “max rows.”
New line for every section: When this is set, most part markers will start a new line on the Chord Sheet. This makes the
sections more readable. It can be disabled for a song using Edit | Settings (for This Song). The “minimum section” setting is the
minimum number of bars that is required for a section to automatically start a new line.
Extra line space between sections (pixels) is the amount of space to add on a new line when there is a part marker.
Extra space between rows (pixels): This allows you to set a border thickness between rows.
Extra space between columns (pixels): This allows you to set a border thickness between columns.
Height % of Additional Chord Display layer: This sets the percentage of additional chord display layer. For example, if you
want to see Nashville Notation on the additional chord display layer as big as the main chord display below it, set this option to
100%.
[Choose Skin] allows you to see the small toolbar buttons in color.
[Load scheme] [Save scheme]: All settings and colors can be saved and loaded as a .csc file.
Part Markers
Part Markers are placed on the Chord Sheet to indicate a new part of the song, to insert a substyle change, or to
insert drum fills.
They typically occur every 8 bars or so but may be placed at the beginning of any bar.

Chapter 4: The Main Screen 65

Section Paragraphs
When you’re reading a book, a new section begins on a new line, with space between. Band-in-a-Box does that for chords too.
Whenever a new section occurs (a part marker), we start the new section on a new line and draw a grey line above to clearly
mark the new section. A section can be as short as 2 bars. You will see each section on a new line so that the form of the song is
easier to see. The feature is configurable and optional.
Chord Sheet Editing Features
The Chord Sheet has a contextual menu that opens with a right-click in the Chord Sheet area. This menu is a very convenient
way to access the features for editing song arrangements.
Chords can be copied, pasted, cut, or erased and new chords can be entered from
the Chord Builder.
Chord Settings allow pushes, rests, and pedal bass to be applied.
Bar Settings let you refine your arrangement with changes in tempo, meter, key
signature, styles, RealDrums, volume levels, patches, and harmonies.
Song Settings allow rests and pushes, and also control tags, endings, and
fadeouts.
Display Options allow full customization of the Chord Sheet.
Global system settings are accessed in the Preferences.
You can also right-click on a bar in the Chord Sheet to set it as the beginning or
end of the chorus or the end of the song from the settings in the context menu.
For example, these settings are available with a right-click on bar 16.
This menu can be used to start playback from the highlighted bar in any chorus
of the song.
Bar-Based Section Letters lets you add a letter or number, which will display just
above the bar number on the Chord Sheet.
Print Chords will open the Print Options dialog. You can then press the [OK
Print Chords] button in the dialog to print the chord sheet.
Insert Bars or Delete Bars lets you insert or delete a specific number of bars at
the current bar.
Play Selected Area as a Loop
To use this function, select a region on the Chord Sheet. To select a region, click a bar and drag the mouse. To select a large
region, click a bar and Shift+click on the end point.

Tip: You can select a region of bars just by using the keyboard. Hold down the Shift key and use the cursor keys.
Click on the [Loop] button and select Play and loop highlighted region from the menu, or press F10, and the program will play
the selected region and loop the selection. For example, you can select bars 19 and 20, and then press F10, and bars 19 and 20
will play looped.

The Loop menu includes the Loop Section Settings.

66 Chapter 4: The Main Screen

To enter settings manually in this dialog, you start by choosing either “Loop a Single Screen of Notation” or “Loop Range of
Bars.”
“Loop a Single Screen of Notation” (Ctrl+NUMPAD 7) loops a single screen of notation at the current song location. The
length of the loop is determined by the number of “Bars/Screen” specified in the Notation Window Options dialog.
Select “Loop Range of Bars” if you want a custom range of bars, then enter the starting “From Bar” number, the “Chorus #,”
and the “# bars” for the length of the looped section. You can then play the song with the [Play within loop] button and then
[Close] the dialog.
Presets are available to set the loop points to Introduction, First / Middle /Last Choruses or First & Middle, Middle & Last
combinations, Ending, or All. As the different buttons are selected you will see the “Loop Range of Bars” settings update.
Hotkeys are also available for these. Look in the Play menu under the Looping submenu.

Chapter 4: The Main Screen 67

 Chapter 5: Playing Songs
Opening Files
Band-in-a-Box supports most popular song formats in addition to its own native song files. It will open most audio file formats,
and its powerful Audio Chord Wizard feature will interpret the chords from an audio file and write them to a Band-in-a-Box
song file. You can also play karaoke files, including Karaoke MP3/CDG files with scrolling graphical lyrics, in Band-in-a-Box.
You can quick-load a song by typing only. In chord entry mode type the word “Song” followed by a file name, or partial file
name, and the song will get loaded in. For example, type C:\a\MySong.sgu to load in that exact song name. Type “bossa” to load
in the first song with bossa in the name AFTER the current song name, in the current folder.
You can load a song from the [Open] or [Song] button on the toolbar.
The [Open] button opens a menu of commands for opening files by various methods.

The [Song] button is a split button. Clicking on the top half opens a song selection dialog using the default method
assigned to the button. Clicking on the bottom half of the button opens a menu of the options for opening songs. The
default method for the top half of the button is assigned from this menu.
For example, if there is a check mark beside SongPicker, clicking on the top half of the button will launch the SongPicker
dialog. If Recently Loaded Songs is checked, clicking the button will go directly to the Recently Played Songs list, and so on.
You can also open songs from the File menu.
Open File
The BB File Open dialog is opened with the File | Open menu command, the Open File command in the [Open] button menu,
or the F3 function key.
Tip: You can also press the S S 4 Enter keys to open this dialog.
It shows and opens all available file types.

If MySong.MGU is loaded, and a same named audio file (MySong.WMA, MySong.MP3, MySong.WAV, etc.) is present, Band-
in-a-Box will open the audio file to the audio track. This allows third parties to make audio files with chords in them, by making
a MySong.MGU and MySong.MP3 pair of files, which will load into Band-in-a-Box yet will have the audio compressed to take
up little disk space. For example, make a teaching set of trombone files for Band-in-a-Box, with audio trombone track, and
Band-in-a-Box file with chords, all fitting in a small file size.
Drag & Drop Files to Band-in-a-Box
You can drop many file types onto the Band-in-a-Box screen, and they will be loaded into the program either as a new file or
added to an existing song. File types include Band-in-a-Box songs (.SGU/.MGU), MIDI (.MID), and audio
(.WAV/.M4A/.MP3). Simply drag the file and drop it anywhere on the Band-in-a-Box screen, including various windows.
Open Song by Titles (SongPicker)
Selecting Open SongPicker from the [Open] button menu opens the SongPicker, which shows information for up to 60,000
songs. It has many filter features for finding songs. You can also search songs that have similar chord progressions or melody
fragments.
Tip: Pressing the S S Enter keys quickly opens the SongPicker.

68 Chapter 5: Playing Songs

The first time you open the SongPicker, Band-in-a-Box will ask you to build the song list for C:\bb\Song, which is your
“home” folder. This is an empty folder but is used for you to put any songs.
Press the [Rebuild] button to build the song list for this folder.
If the song list build is taking more than 3 seconds, the progress bar will appear.
If you want to see the song list in other folders, press the [Change] button. You will see some menu options to choose folders.
There is also an option to always open the home folder.
If the Open in Home option is enabled, the SongPicker will always open in the home folder instead of the current folder when
you press the default [Song] button to open the SongPicker.
You can change the width of any column in the song list by dragging the boundary. This customization will be remembered
between sessions.
- Title: This is the title of the song.
- SubFolder: If the folder has subfolders, they will show here.
- File: This is the file name of the song.
- Melody: A letter “M” indicates that the song has the Melody track. A blank column means that the Melody track is empty.
- Soloist: A letter “S” tells you that the Soloist track is present. If the column is blank, the Soloist track is empty.
- Lyrics: If the song has note-based lyrics, a letter “L” will show in this column.
- Key: This is the key of the song.
- TimeSig - The number shown is the numerator of the time signature, so “4” means the song is in 4/4 time and “3” means it is
in 3/4 time.
- Tempo: The tempo of the song displays.
- Genre: This tells you the genre of the song.
- Feel: The feel (even/swing, 8th/16th) will show in this column.
- Form: This shows you the song form. For example, if 1-32*3 is shown, the chorus starts at the bar 1 and ends at the bar 32,
and there are 3 choruses in the song.
- Date: The file was last modified in this year/month.
In the area below the song list, you can see the chord progression of the currently highlighted song. You can copy and paste it
into a text file.
The song list can be filtered in many ways.
- Type any text in the Filter String field, and the filtered list will show songs that contains the text in any field.
- The Subfolders button allows you to filter the list by a certain subfolder of the current folder.
- You can use Genre/Feel button to filter the list by genre, feel (even/swing, 8th/16th), or time signature.
- The Chords/Melody button allows you to filter the list by a chord progression and/or a melody fragment.
- The Other button is to filter the list by a certain style, songs with melody/soloist/lyrics, certain keys, tempo range, or file
dates from certain years.
The Songs with Custom Chord Progression item in the “Chords/Melody” filter menu helps you find songs that contain a chord
progression that you specify. When the Custom Chord Progression Match dialog opens, type in a chord progression using a
vertical line for a bar line. (e.g., Dm7 | G7 | C |)

This function will always find the progressions in every key; for example, it will find | Am7 | D7 | G.

Chapter 5: Playing Songs 69

 Note: The search will find variations of the chords. For example, when searching for a C, it will find CMaj7, C/E.
Tip: If you want to find songs in a certain key, then press the “Other” filter button, go to Songs in this key, and select a key.
If you want to find the progression that is relative to the key of C (i.e., Dm7 is IIm7), then you should enable the Only match if
relative to this key checkbox and set the key to C.
Enable Key must match exactly if you want to find the songs of the same key.
If Chord Extension must match exactly is enabled, the SongPicker will list songs that match the chord extension. (For
example, C7 would not match C9 or C7b5.) If this option is disabled, the chord extension will be ignored. (For example, C7
would match C9 or C7b5.)
Enable Time Sig must match if you want to find the songs of the same time signature.
The Songs with Chord progression matching current song item in the “Chords/Melody” filter menu will help you find songs
that has a similar chord progression in the selected range of the current song. In the Song Chord Match dialog, specify the
range by entering the start bar number and the number of bars. When you press the [Update] button, the chord progression in
that range will display.

With the Songs matching melody bar range item in the “Chords/Melody” filter menu, you can find songs with a similar melody
fragment in the selected range of the current song. When the Song Melody Match dialog opens, select the source track (Melody
or Soloist), and specify the range.

If you want to find songs with a similar chord progression and a melody fragment in the selected range of the current song,
select the Songs matching Chords and melody bar range menu item. In the Song Chords and Melody Match dialog, select the
source track (Melody or Soloist) and specify the range.

70 Chapter 5: Playing Songs

There are more buttons in the SongPicker for opening and finding songs.
The [Open] button allows you to open files of any available format from any
folder.
Press the [Recent] button if you want to open recently played songs.
The [Fav] button is for opening your favorite songs.
Use the [Fav Folder] button to open files from your favorite folders.
The [Find] button opens the Find song files dialog, which helps you find files by using a keyword, file date, size, etc.
The [Search] button allows you to find a song that contains a certain text in any field. You can continue the same search with
the [G] button.
Press the [Rebuild] button to rebuild the song list for the current folder. The song list build very fast; approximately 150 songs
will be processed per second.
You can reset the dialog with the [Defaults] button.
The [Action Menu] button allows you to select additional options.
The options include to select the font size, enable sorting of
the song list, allow auto-rebuild for folders if there are less
than a specified number of songs, and include subfolders for
song build.

Open Recently Chosen Songs / Open Favorite Songs

There’s a dialog with separate lists of Recently Played and Favorite songs. Select Open Recently Chosen Songs or Open
Favorite Songs from the [Open] button menu or use the keystrokes Shift+F3 to open the lists.
Tip: You can also use the following hotkeys: S S 2 Enter for the recently played songs and S S 3 Enter for the favorite songs.

Chapter 5: Playing Songs 71

The Favorites and Recently Played radio buttons toggle between a list of your recently played songs and your favorite songs.
When “Save As” is used to save a song with a different name, the new name will be added to the Recently Played Songs
dialog.
Use the [To Top], [Up], and [Down] buttons to navigate up and down the list or to jump to the top of the list.
[Insert] adds a song at the current list location. [Append] adds a song to the end of the list. [Delete] removes the selected item.
The [Search] button allows you to search a file by a keyword.
The [Juke] lists can be edited, sorted, saved/loaded, and used with the jukebox. You can add an unlimited number of favorites.
The list will start off as an empty one, but you can add songs as your favorites by pressing the [Add Fav] button.
The [Sort] button sorts the list alphabetically.
The [Load Set] and [Save Set] buttons allow you to save and load sets of favorites or recently played songs (or styles). Once
you have the set, you can press the [Juke...] button. This will play the set file in order, not randomly. It will start from the
currently selected song.
You can make a new list of songs for a set by using the [Clear] button to clear the Favorites list, followed by the [Append],
[Insert], and [Delete] buttons to add songs.
If Play when chosen is enabled, when you press the [OK] button the song will play automatically.
If OK to auto-add recent files is enabled, every song you load will be added to the top of the Favorites list.
Technical Note: The list of songs/style favorites is stored in a text file called SongFavorites.txt (or StyleFavorites.txt) in the C:\bb\Preferences
folder.

Open Previous Song

The Open Previous Song command in the [Open] or [Song] button menu opens the previous song in alphabetical order in the
current folder.
Tip: Pressing the Ctrl+Shift+F8 or S S 7 Enter keys opens the previous song.

Open Next Song

The Open Next Song command in the [Open] or [Song] button menu opens the next song in alphabetical order in the currently
active folder.
Tip: Pressing the Shift+F8 or S S 8 Enter keys opens the next song.

Open Entire MIDI File (mid) to Melody Track

The Open Entire MIDI File (.mid) to Melody Track command in the [Open] button menu allows you to select a MIDI file and
open it to the Melody track.
Tip: You can also press the S S 9 Enter keys to open a MIDI file.

Open Entire Karaoke File (kar) to Melody Track

The Open Karaoke File (.kar) to Melody Track command in the [Open] button menu allows you to select a Karaoke file and
open it to the Melody track.
Tip: You can also press the S S 1 3 Enter keys to open a Karaoke file.

Open MusicXML File

Band-in-a-Box supports MusicXML. You can easily open a MusicXML file, including notes, chords, lyrics, guitar tab, bends,
hammer-ons, pull-offs, and slides, that you have created in your notation programs such as Finale, Sibelius, and Guitar Pro.
When you choose the Open MusicXML File command from the [Open] or [Song] button menu and select a MusicXML file
(.musicxml/.XML/.MXL), the Load XML File dialog will open.
Note: To import a MusicXML file to the current song instead of opening it as a new song, go to File | Import | Import MusicXML File.

72 Chapter 5: Playing Songs

First, select a track that you want to load. To select multiple tracks, hold down the Ctrl key and click a track.
If you want to change the destination track, right-click on a track and select Destination Track.

In the area below the track selection, select items that you want to load from the MusicXML file.
If you do not want all the tracks to be merged into the Melody track, disable the “Load all XML tracks to Melody” option.
The “# Bars in XML file to Skip” setting allows you to load the MusicXML file from a certain bar. For example, a setting of 4
will load the MusicXML file from bar 5.
Press [OK], and the MusicXML file will be loaded to Band-in-a-Box.
Note: When loading a MusicXML file, if more than 20% of notes are triplet notes, then the overall beat resolution will be automatically set to 3
in the Notation window.
Tip: If the source track is drums, the track type of the destination track (Melody or Soloist) will be automatically set to Drums.

Open ABC Notation File

ABC notation is the simple text-based notation system used by musicians worldwide to store chords, melody, and lyrics of
songs. You can find out more information about the songs and ABC notation at abcnotation.com.
Open Audio File
The Open Audio command in the [Open] or [Song] button menu allows you to open audio files of all supported types (.WAV,
.WMA, .MP3, .MP4, .M4A, .WMV audio, and audio CD).
Tip: You can also press the S S 1 0 Enter keys to open an audio file.

Open from Favorite Folders

The Open from Favorite Folders command in the [Open] button launches the Favorite Folders dialog with a list of recently
used folders. To open a song using this dialog, you first select the folder from the list, and then you can directly open the song
from that folder. This allows you to quickly find a song in another folder.
Tip: This dialog also opens with the S S 6 Enter or Alt+Shift+F keys.

File Associations
Go to the menu item File | File Utilities to associate the file types for Band-in-a-Box songs and styles in Windows®. Once set,
this means that you can double-click on a song or style and Band-in-a-Box will open with that song or style.
Choose the menu items File | File Utilities | Associate File types (songs, styles) with Windows… to associate the Band-in-a-Box
file types, and Remove File Associations (songs, styles) with Windows… to remove the associations.

Global Song Overrides

These overrides let you ignore settings that were saved in song files.
The global overrides are found in Preferences [Overrides], and they allow you to set the overall song looping
(always OFF, always ON, or as set in the song). Similar overrides are available to see which other
information gets loaded from a file, such as patches, harmonies, volume, reverb, chorus, panning, and bank changes. For
example, you can set every song to load with looping ON, and don’t load any reverb settings from songs.

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 Overall Looping of song: For example, if you want every song loaded to
have looping set to on, then set this option to “Always set loop to ON.” But
if you are going out on a playing job, and don’t want any songs to loop, then
set it to “Always set loop to OFF.” If you want the settings to work the same
way they did in previous versions, choose “As set in the song” or press the
[Defaults] button.
Allow Loading of any these settings: If you enable this, the items (e.g.,
patch changes, harmonies, volumes, etc.) will be loaded with songs. If you
disable it, none of the items will be loaded with songs.
Thru Volume, Pan, Reverb, Patches: If this is enabled, mixer settings for
the Thru track will be loaded from songs. If it’s disabled, the Thru track will
use global settings.
Display dB Setting for Individual Tracks: If you check this option, you
will be able to change the Track Setting | Display dB instead of MIDI
Volume setting in the track radio button contextual menu and the setting will
be loaded/saved with songs. If you uncheck this option, the global setting
will be used for all tracks.
Convert line-based lyrics to bar-based lyrics: In the previous versions,
there were line-based lyrics, which could be entered for each line on the
Notation window. You can no longer enter this type of lyrics, but if your
existing song has line-based lyrics, Band-in-a-Box can convert them to bar-
based-lyrics. This option allows you to choose how the conversion should
occur when the song with line-based lyrics opens. The default is “Always
(auto-split),” which will convert line-based lyrics to bar-based lyrics and
splitting them into 4 bars. If you choose “Always (don’t split),” line-based
lyrics will be converted but they won’t be split into 4 bars. You can also
choose not to convert line-based lyrics automatically. If the current song has
line-based lyrics, you can press the [Convert now] button to convert them to
bar-based lyrics.
OK to Load Notation Symbols with songs: If this is not selected, notation
symbols (slurs, staccato, crescendos) will not be loaded from the song.
The options under Defaults for new songs are settings from the Song Settings dialog.
When Vary Style in Middle Choruses is selected (default), the song will play in substyle B throughout the middle choruses,
playing substyle A for the first and last choruses only. If this setting is not selected, then the substyle changes will follow the
part markers entered on the Chord Sheet.
When Force to Simple Arrangement is selected, the song plays a simpler (less busy or embellished) arrangement.
The Avoid Transpositions option allows the RealTracks to avoid transposition for all tracks in all songs. This will produce
higher quality sound but less variation. (Note: To use this feature for all tracks in the current song, set the option in Song
Settings dialog. To set for each track in the current song, use the right-click menu on the track radio buttons.)
The [Pop/Country] preset button turns both of these settings off for a typical Pop or Country arrangement that follows part
markers and does not embellish chords.
The [Jazz] preset button turns both of these settings on for a typical jazz arrangement to support soloing over the middle
choruses and allow jazz chord embellishments.
Use the options under Force Tracks to Simple Arrangements for All Songs to set individual tracks or all tracks to simple
arrangements for all songs. If you want to force simple arrangements on a song-by-song basis, use the [Simple] button on the
toolbar.

Settings for transposing songs when loaded

The Preferences [Transpose] button opens the Settings for transposing songs when loaded or “Do it
Now” dialog.

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When playing along on your MIDI keyboard, you can set the Thru transpose to transpose semitones or octaves. You can define
a “favorite key” and Band-in-a-Box will optionally transpose any and all loaded songs to that key. This is a great feature for
practicing in a certain key.
You can also set the THRU transpose to the favorite key to transpose the THRU part so that you can always play along in your
favorite key (regardless of the actual key of the song). To activate this feature by key strokes, press Ctrl+Shift+K.
To practice a song in different keys, have it transpose by a specified number of semitones each chorus, or let Band-in-a-Box
transpose it a random number of semitones for more of a challenge.
The [Vocal Wizard] button launches the Vocal Wizard, which shows the best keys given a singer’s vocal range.
When Auto-transpose to best VOCAL key when a song is loaded is checked, the song will be automatically transposed to the
best key for a vocalist, depending on the settings in the Vocal Wizard.
If you have an external keyboard, enable the Use Wizard for THRU part option and also the Wizard checkbox on the main
screen. Band-in-a-Box will make sure you never hit a wrong note when playing live!
When Allow Melody Wizard on THRU part (F and G below middle C is melody) is set, the F and G below middle C on a
connected MIDI keyboard will play melody notes, assuming a Melody track exists. A, B, C, D, and E are approach notes from
below. F# = repeat note. D, C, B, and A are approach notes from above. Low E, F, and G change the melody octave.

Changing the Style

The [Style] button is a split button. Clicking on the top half opens a style selection dialog using the default method
assigned to the button. Clicking on the bottom half of the button opens a menu of the options for selecting styles. The
default method for the top half of the button is assigned from this menu.
For example, if there is a check mark beside StylePicker, clicking on the top half of the button will launch the StylePicker
dialog. Band Styles opens a list of style categories. If Recently Used Style is checked, clicking the button will go directly to the
Recently Played Styles list, and so on.
The StylePicker
The StylePicker window lists all styles with full information. It has a great filter feature for finding a perfect style for your song
by selecting elements such as time signature, feel, or tempo, or by simply typing in a familiar song title.
You can browse styles by sorting columns or hear an “instant” preview of the style by double-clicking on the list. If style has
both MIDI and RealDrums available, you can hear both, and choose which one you want. This makes it much faster to find the
style that fits your song.
Tip: You can quickly launch the StylePicker by the S Enter or Ctrl+F9 keys.

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Quick Filter
In the Style Filter by area, type a text and/or press the arrow button to select a category, time signature, feel, etc., and you will
immediately see the filtered list. If “Include Similar” is unchecked, then the filtered list will show the exact match only, but if
this option is checked, then the list will show the exact match and the similar styles.

Style Suggestion
In the Type in a familiar song title field, type in a familiar song title, artist name, or genre of music, and the StylePicker will
filter the list by the genre, feel, tempo, and time signature of that song title.
Let’s find a style that is similar to the song “Amazing Grace.” Type in “amazing,” click on a song to select it, and press [Enter].
This is an even 8th folk song with 3/4 time signature, and the list will be filtered to show styles that match these elements. You
can see what filters are in place when you look at the “Style Filter by:” area.

Song Titles Browser

The Song Titles Browser window allows you to browse and filter the huge list of over 21,000 popular song titles. You can, for
example, filter by a certain artist, and then sort all the songs by tempo, key, feel, time signature, and more.
You can open this window with the [Find Titles] button.

Note: You can also open the Song Titles Browser window by clicking on the [Style] button on the toolbar and selecting the Choose style
from Song Title menu item.
Tip: Pressing the S 3 Enter keys quickly opens the Song Titles Browser window.
Instant Preview of Styles
You can audition a style without changing your existing arrangement, by using the preview control.

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It has Play and Stop buttons, a progress bar, a Loop button and a file button.
Also, when the control is playing, if there are 2 files that can be played, a toggle button displays. This appears for previewing
MIDI styles, because there are MIDI drums and RealDrums available for most MIDI styles, and now you can easily hear both.
To hear a preview, simply double-click on a style name in the list. Or highlight a style and press the Play button.
The demos are pre-made, so they play instantly. And they are a good idea of what the style is supposed to sound like.
The style demos are found in 2 possible places:
1. On your hard drive, in the Data\Style Demos Audio folder of your RealTracks folder, usually C:\bb\RealTracks\Data\Style
Demos Audio (some of the demos are included on disk, but to save space not all of them are included).
2. On the Internet, at www.pgmusic.com (all of the demos are there).
When you demo a style, the program will play the version on disk if available; otherwise, it will play from the Internet.
The style demos sometimes play files from the internet. You can download a file that is being played from the internet by
clicking on the folder button. If the file is being played on your hard drive, this button will show the file in a folder.
The speaker button allows you to control the volume of demos.
Play Your Song with the Styles
You can also audition a style by actually playing it over the current chord progression of your song.

Pressing the [Play] button will generate arrangement for your song with the currently highlighted style. You can speed up the
generation if you enable the “4 bar Preview” option, which will play only for the first 4 bars.
RealStyles and Styles with RealTracks
RealStyles are Band-in-a-Box styles that use RealTracks only. The style names for RealStyles are prefaced by an underscore, _.
(e.g., _J140_GB)
Styles with RealTracks are a blend of MIDI tracks and RealTracks. Style names for Styles with RealTracks are prefaced by an
equal sign, =. (e.g., =TBONE_B)
Styles with RealDrums use RealDrums for the Drums track and MIDI tracks for other tracks. Style names for Styles with
RealDrums are prefaced by a hyphen -. (e.g., -ZZBLUST)
Band Styles
When you select this menu item, you will see a directory of style types, with submenus sorted into
the listed categories.
Tip: Pressing the S 2 Enter keys quickly shows you the submenus.

For example, in the Jazz section you will see styles for Jazz Swing, Bossa/Latin, Cuban/Bolero, Smooth Jazz, and Gypsy
Jazz/Dixieland. Each heading opens a list of selected RealStyles, sorted by tempo and type.

You can also load in a song demo by choosing the menu item.
This list of styles can be customized by the user. You can create a text file of styles to add to the top and/or bottom of the list
(i.e., above or below the list of styles provided by PG Music). To customize this list at the top, create a file called
C:\bb\Data\RealCombos_User_Top.txt, to customize this list at the bottom create a file called
C:\bb\Data\RealCombos_User_Bottom.txt.
The format of the file is identical to the one that PG Music includes, which is called C:\bb\Data\RealCombos.txt. You can list a
line of text (for a heading) e.g.
---- My Favorite Country Styles ----

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or a line with a style on it e.g.
_JAZFRED$ Jazz Style with 4 in the bar Guitar
On this line, the $ character is a delimiter between the style name and the description.

Playing/Pausing/Stopping Songs

You can use the buttons on the toolbar to control playback.

The [Play] button will replay the song without regenerating the tracks, unless regeneration is required. The current arrangement
is preserved. (Freeze the song or save to a MIDI file to permanently save the arrangement.)
The [Generate and Play] button will create a new arrangement and plays the song. If you don’t want your tracks regenerated
use [Play].
Click on the [Loop] button for a menu of looping selections. You can play the highlighted section of the Chord Sheet or
Notation window in an endless loop. Click and drag the mouse to highlight a section of bars to loop. If the checkbox is selected,
the entire song will loop.
The [Play from Bar…] button will play the song starting at the selected chorus and bar number. Use it to jump to any bar in the
song. You can also start playback from any bar by right-clicking on the bar and selecting the Play from Bar menu item.
The [Stop] will stop song playback.
You can pause playback with the [Pause/Continue] button; pressing it again resumes playback from the same location.
You can also use the Play menu commands or keystrokes. The keystrokes are Ctrl+A to play, F4 to generate and play, F10 to
play and loop the selected region, Ctrl+F to play from the selected bar, Ctrl+G to play from the current bar, Esc or Spacebar
to stop, and Ctrl+H to pause/continue.
You can double-click on any bar on the Chord Sheet or Notation window to start playback at that location.
There is also an option in the Preferences dialog to start and stop playback with the spacebar. The spacebar or double-click can
be used on an ending bar (or a bar in the tag), and it will play from the ending (or tag).
Arrangement Options

The [Arrange] button in the Preferences dialog opens the Arrangement Options dialog, which allows you to
configure overall settings for song arrangement. For example, you can set the amount of boost for shots/hold, allow rests/pushes,
normalize MIDI velocities to a certain value, allow endings, set natural arrangement, and do more.

Boost velocity of MIDI pushes by: The pushes in Band-in-a-Box are the chords that get played before the beat. Typically
pushes are played a little louder than other patterns. You can leave this setting at 0 or set it to between 0 and 10.
Boost MIDI shots by: Shots can be accented with this setting.
Boost MIDI ‘Holds’ by: Use this setting to boost the velocity of held chords.

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Allow Any Rests: You can disable the rests feature. You might want to do this if you’ve got a song with a lot of rests in it and
are then having difficulty recording a melody because you don’t hear the drums providing the beat (due to the drums resting). If
so, you can temporarily disable the rests so that you can record and listen to the drums.
Allow Any Pushes: If for some reason you don’t want a style or a song to have pushes, you can set this to no.
Allow Style Pushes: If for some reason you don’t want a style to have pushes, you can set this to no.
OK to Load Style with Songs: This loads the style that is saved with the Band-in-a-Box song. Set it to NO if you don’t want
the saved styles to load, perhaps to audition a new style with several different songs.
Concert Pitch Adjust: This is useful for non-concert instruments such as Saxophone or Trumpet. The output is transposed so
that you see the music in one key, and it plays in another. Trumpet players and other Bb instruments should set the option to –2.
Alto Sax and other Eb instruments should set to +3.
Note: This concert pitch adjust setting is an old one. It is preferable that you use the Notation-Transpose Option instead.
Allow Any Endings: You can disable the endings from all the songs by using this setting.
Lowest Bass Note: Styles normally play bass notes (down to the low E) if the pattern doesn’t go below a low E note. This
happens with all styles automatically, but there is also an option to set the lowest note that the bass can go very low (so you can
get a low C if you want to!).
Prevent “too low” guitar notes: For styles using a guitar patch on the Guitar, Piano, or Strings part this will prevent any note
from being lower than the low E on a guitar.
Allow late notes in pattern, just before chord change: Styles will normally play notes near the end of a pattern, before a chord
change. Sometimes this makes the style sound “too busy.” If you set this to, say 70%, then 30% of the time, the note at the end
of the pattern will play quieter, typically at half the volume.
Drum Brushes: Most GM modules have brushes available on patch 41 on the drums. On some Sound Blasters you need to load
a GS sound font for this to occur, and you need to use the Sound Blaster software to do this (AWE Control Panel). On the
Yamaha XG, you likely need to send a “GS mode on” message from the GM menu in Band-in-a-Box. But if your module just
doesn’t have brushes available, then you can set this option, and the style will remap the notes to different drum instruments that
don’t have brushes.
First bar of first chorus of song gets a drum cymbal crash: If selected, the first bar of the song (following the intro) might get
a cymbal crash. Usually this is left unselected, since most drummers wouldn’t play a crash cymbal on bar 1 of the song.
Natural Arrangements (re-interpret complex chords): If you give a pro musician a complicated chord progression with fancy
extensions like C7b9b13 or Gm11, the musician may reinterpret these rather than playing them exactly as written. This can
achieve a much better sounding arrangement because the musician has freedom to choose from similar chord extensions. You
can get Band-in-a-Box to do the same thing with this option for all tracks in all songs. (Note: To set this feature for all tracks in
the current song, use the option in the Song Settings dialog. To set this for specific track(s) in the current song, right-click on
the track radio button, go to Track Settings | Set Natural Arrangement, and select an option.).
Show Messages: You can select to show a flash message when chords are re-interpreted. The choices are: Always, Never, and
Once per session.
Normalize MIDI velocities to: If performing live, or at a jam session, it helps to have the volume of all songs be similar. With
the “Normalize MIDI velocities” feature, you can level the volumes to a setting you enter. For example, you can set all volumes
to be 70 and the program will make each song play within those levels. When you have set the normalize to “on,” the title
window at the top of the screen reports that Normalization is set to 70, and that the velocity of the currently playing song has
been increased from 49 to 70.
Including Melody, Soloist: The normalization will affect bass, drums, piano, guitar, and strings. If you select the “Including
Melody, Soloist” option, the normalization will also affect the Melody and Soloist parts.
When a song is loaded, but the required style is not found: In this group of settings, you can control the behavior of the
program when a required style is not found. Text files like C:\bb\Data\A_PGMUSIC.NA list the substitute styles to use. You can
make your own *.NA file but call it something like MYSTYLES.NA. Don’t edit the A_PGMUSIC.NA file.
OK to substitute with a similar style: If set, this will enable the substitution of styles using the C:\bb\Data\A_PGMUSIC.NA
text file and any other *.NA files supplied by third-party styles developers.
If nothing similar found, use this style: This is the style that will be substituted if no better substitute is found in the
A_PGMUSIC.NA text file or any other *.NA files.
Message if no style or substitution found: If no substitute style is found, what type of message (if any) should be displayed?
Message if substitution style found: When a substitute style is found, what type of message (if any) should be displayed?
Woodshed Tempo (increase tempo every loop): When practicing (or “woodshedding”) a tune, it is useful for the tempo to
speed up every time the section loops or the song restarts from the beginning.
Woodshed tempo by (default=0 bpm): This sets the number of bpm that the tempo will change each time through. There are 4
modes to the woodshed tempo field. They are only active when you set a woodshed tempo value other than 0.
1. “Up only,” which is getting faster each loop “forever,” well until tempo=500 which is BB’s maximum tempo.

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2. An “up then down” mode that goes up by [a settable increment] up to [a settable maximum] and then starts going down by
the increment back to the original where it restarts. For example, a song with a tempo of 140, if you set the tempo to increase
by 5, to a maximum increase of 100, the song will go from 140,145,150 etc. to 240, then go to 235,230… back to 140 and
cycle again.
3. An “Up then Reset” mode, that goes up in increments up to the settable maximum, then resets to the original and starts again.
For example, a song with a tempo of 140, if you set the tempo to increase by 5, to a maximum increase of 100, the song will
go from 140,145,150 etc. to 240, then go to 140 and start again.
4. An “Up and stay at Max” mode that goes up until the settable maximum and stays there.
Modes 2 and 3 are analogous to a “treadmill workout,” with programmed changes in speed.
Insert Breaks (silence) in arrangement: This feature is great for practicing tempo control. Select the # of bars, and Band-in-a-
Box will play for, say 4 bars (selectable), and then will rest all instruments for the next 4 bars. Once set, this feature works
automatically with all songs until you turn it off.
Defaults for new songs: By default, new songs have 32 bars and 1 chorus, but you can set your own defaults.
Song Settings
The [Song Settings] button opens the Song Settings dialog for settings such as endings, tags, style variations,
pushes, rests, and chord embellishments to make your song interesting and varied.
You can also use the Ctrl+N keys or the Edit | Song Form | Settings (for This Song) menu command to open this dialog.

Vary Style in Middle Choruses: If set to “Yes,” the song will play in substyle “b” throughout the Middle Choruses. The
Middle Choruses are considered all choruses except the first and last ones. For example, in the Jazz Swing Style, since the “b”
substyle is Swing, all of the middle choruses will have swing bass, whereas the “a” substyle is playing half notes on the bass. If
set to “No” the middle choruses will play A and B substyles exactly as they appear in the song as outlined by the part markers.
Allow Pushes in Middle Choruses: This is most frequently used if there are pushes in a song (indicated by the “^” symbol),
but you don’t want these pushes to play in the middle choruses. Simply set the checkbox to “No” (disabled) and the pushes will
be ignored in the middle choruses. This is to allow for uninterrupted soloing choruses.
Allow Rests in First/Middle/Last Chorus: These parameters allow you to decide which choruses will play any rests that are
present in a song (indicated by the “.” symbol). If you have rests in a song but don’t want the rests to play in the middle choruses
since you are using them for soloing, simply uncheck the “Allow Rests in Middle Choruses” option.
Allow Pedal Bass in Middle Choruses: This determines whether Pedal Bass effect will be allowed in middle choruses.
Force Song to Simple Arrangement (non-embellished): You can set the whole song to use “Simpler” RealTracks with this
setting, as long as the RealTracks you are using have the simple option available. This is shown by a “y” in the RealTracks
Picker’s “Simpler Available” column. The “Simpler” RealTracks play a less busy, less embellished arrangement.
Drums Count-in (this song only): You can select the count-in option for this song.
Allow Chord Variations in Repeated Sections: This is disabled by default, but if you enable it, you can use alternate chords in
repeated sections (DC al Coda, 1st/2nd Endings, etc.).
Ending Options: A tag (also referred to as a coda) is a group of bars that are played in the very last chorus of a song. If you
select the “Tag Exists?” check box, then the tag will play during the last chorus of the song. After the bar you specify as the
“Tag Jump After Bar #” the song jumps to the “Tag Begin At Bar #” and plays through the “Tag Ends After Bar #” and then
plays a 2-bar ending as usual.
Band-in-a-Box will optionally create a 2-bar ending for your song, the standard ending is 2 bars appended to the end of the song.

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The “Use 4 Bar ending for RealTracks” option allows extra time for the natural decay of the instruments. The “Start the ending
2 bars early” option gives you an alternative to end the song on the last bar of the song. Band-in-a-Box will still play an ending
on the chord that you specify, and the ending will occur as a 2-bar phrase beginning 2 bars before the end of the form. This
results in more natural endings for many songs.
Song endings can be turned off for all songs, or on a song by song basis. For example, you might want to have your own custom
ending that ends the song on the 3rd beat of a bar by playing a shot. To turn the song ending off for a “single song,” set the
“Generate 2-bar Ending for this song” checkbox to off (cleared). To turn song endings off for “all songs,” choose Options |
Preferences and press the [Arrange] button to open the Arrangement Options dialog. Then, set the “Allow any Endings”
checkbox to off (cleared).
You can quickly choose a fadeout ending, just press the [Fade] button, and Band-in-a-Box will fadeout the last “x” bars of the
song (you can specify how many bars). Or customize the fadeout with precise values for each bar.
RealTracks options for this song only set the RealTracks options for the song without changing the global RealTracks
settings.
Solos should have a ‘bluesy’ feel: When set, any Soloist or RealTracks background Soloist will treat any major triad (C, F,
etc.) like a dominant seventh (C7, F7) and use flatted 7th for soloing.
Allow RealTracks substitutions based on tempo: When set, the program will find the best RealTracks to use at the current
tempo. For example, it might substitute an acoustic bass recorded at a higher tempo, closer to the tempo of your song. The
RealTracks name will appear on the main screen with a tilde (~) to indicate the substitution.
Allow RealTracks Shots, Holds and Pushes: When set (recommended), Band-in-a-Box will create realistic shots, holds, and
pushes in your song. If unchecked, Band-in-a-Box will simulate a shot. Not all styles have these available. Check the
RealTracks\Library\Holds folder and the RealTracks Picker’s “Holds” column listing the set number.
Allow RealTracks Half-time/Double-time: When set, this song will allow RealTracks to play at half time (twice the usual
tempo) or double time (half the usual tempo). This allows you, for example in a ballad at a tempo of 70, to add a RealTracks Sax
solo with a tempo of 140 and play it as a double time, which will match the ballad tempo of 70.
Ignore Slash Root of Slash Chords (eg C/E) except Bass Track: If this is set, the RealTracks other than the Bass track will
not play the slash root of chords. For example, the RealTracks will play C instead of C/E.
Avoid transpositions in RealTracks: If this is set, RealTracks will try not to transpose. This will result in better quality, but
less variety in the arrangement.
Natural Arrangements: If you give a pro musician a complicated chord progression with fancy extensions like C7b9b13 or
Gm11, the musician may reinterpret these rather than playing them exactly as written. This can achieve a much better sounding
arrangement because the musician has freedom to choose from similar chord extensions. You can get Band-in-a-Box to do the
same thing with this option for all tracks in the current song. (Note: To set this feature for all tracks in all songs, use the option
in the Arrangement Options dialog. To set this for specific track(s) in the current song, right-click on the track radio button, go
to Track Settings | Set Natural Arrangement, and select an option.)
Sections on a new line (for this song) is an option to enable/disable the Section Paragraphs feature for this particular song.
Allow Style Aliases (auto-substitution of style) for this song: If this is set, and Auto-replace MIDI styles with RealTracks
styles when songs loaded is checked on the RealTracks toolbar menu, then auto-substitution with a RealStyle is allowed.
This song has playback problems, disable Fast Generation: On slower computers, songs with lots of RealTracks might have
playback problems (stuttering). If so, you can use this setting to disable Fast Generation for this song. You can turn Fast
Generation off for all songs in the RealTracks Settings dialog by unchecking the setting “Speed up generation of RealTracks
(disable on slow machines).”
Volume Boost (this song only) in dB: The volume of any particular song can be boosted or cut by typing in the number of
decibels. A change of 6dB is about the same as moving a MIDI volume control by a value of 32.
Transpose Artist Performance Tracks by semitones: If this is enabled, any Artist Performance tracks will be transposed
(pitch stretched) by the amount entered here. The value is set automatically when you transpose your song, but you can adjust it
here.
Count-in and Metronome Options

The [Count-in/Metro] button in the Preferences dialog opens the Count-in and Metronome Options
dialog, which allows you to set the drum lead-in options (pattern, type, 1-bar instead of 2-bar, type, volume, instrument, smart
lead-in, etc.) and the metronome options (visible and/or audible metronome).

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 Drum Count-in (this song only): This allows you to set the lead-in option for the
current song only.
Allow Lead-In Bars: People who use Band-in-a-Box for soloing practice will likely
turn the lead-in off to allow endless looping uninterrupted by the lead-in count. To
eliminate the lead-in count, select Allow Lead-In Bars to = NO, this will start the
song from bar 1 with no lead in.
Play lead-in even if intro Present: If a song has an intro, it’s usually not necessary
to play the 2-bar lead-in count. There’s a new option to always OMIT the lead-in if
an intro is present.
1 bar lead-in: If this is set, the count-in will be a single bar instead of 2 bars.
Lead-in type: This can be drum patterns instead of “1-2-1234.” You can specify to
play two bars of drum patterns instead of the count-in. You may prefer hearing the
drum beat to a simple count-in, since it provides more information about the
upcoming groove. If you’re playing with Band-in-a-Box live on a “dance floor,” this
setting will avoid “dead air” between songs, and keep the drumbeat going. Includes
options to have “a” or “b” drum fills or patterns play for the two bars.
Audible Lead-In / Volume: This enables audible count-in. If you want the lead-in
bars to be played, but just want the drum lead-in quieter (or silent) set the volume to
0 (for silent).
Instrument / Pattern: You can select any drum instrument for the count in. You can choose different count-in rhythms, e.g.,
tap on 2 and 4 instead of 1-2-3-4. There’s a new “smart lead-in” option to silence the drum count-in if a melody lead-in has
begun.
Smart Lead-in: A smart lead-in avoids playing the count-in drum sound during a Melody pickup.
Lead-in drum count if drums muted/disabled: Previously, when the drum track was muted (or disabled in a song), the count-
in drum click wouldn’t play. This option can play the drum count-in in all circumstances. Drummers who play along with BB by
muting the drum track should find this feature useful. To set this option, choose Options | Preferences and set “Lead-in drum
count if drums muted or disabled” to true (default is true).
Visible Metronome: You can display a visible metronome on-screen during the entire song (or just the lead-in). Choose the
screen position (top-right or center), and the size (up to near full screen size). Also choose the visual metronome pattern (1234,
1-3, 1---, or –2-4). Seeing a metronome on-screen is a great way for a student to learn to keep on the beat, and with a settable
size, students can view this from across the room.
Audible Metronome: The three settings for the audible metronome are None, During Record, or During Record and Play.
Options for Simpler Arrangements
The [Simple] button on the toolbar allows you to set individual tracks or all tracks to unembellished arrangements. The simple
arrangement option can be set on a song-by-song basis or for all songs.
If you set the Drums track to be simple, then the Drum track will avoid fills or post fills (cymbal crashes). You can also set a
Drums track to be simple in a style. UserTracks will also follow this setting for Drums and play a simpler arrangement without
fills if you set the Drums track to Simple.

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Track Settings for Playback
The individual tracks are controlled with the Mixer.

Right-click or double-click on a track name for a menu of settings and actions for the selected
track. The menu is organized into groups allowing easier selection of track types: audio
(RealTracks, UserTracks, Loops) or MIDI (MIDI SuperTracks, classic MIDI tracks) and track
settings/actions.

Mute, Solo, and Freeze Tracks

Each track has its own VU meter as well as buttons to [M]ute, [S]olo, and [*] Freeze the track. The Mute and Solo
states of each track will be saved in the songs and will be loaded the next time you open them.
Muting a Track
Click on the Mute button to silence the selected track. The button will turn red to show it is active.
Solo a Track
While listening to Band-in-a-Box, you can solo (isolate) a certain track by clicking on the Solo button.
Or you could hold the Ctrl key and click (left or right) on the track button at the top of the screen. For example, if you want to
hear only the Piano track, Ctrl+click on the Piano track button. If you want to use hotkeys for this, you can press Alt+2 (Mute-
All) and then Alt+4 (Unmute Piano). You can also solo the current track with Alt+Shift+Z.
You can change the solo and the mute status of other tracks by right-clicking on a blue mute button. For example, if the Guitar
track is in the solo status, when you right-click on the blue mute button on the Drums track, the Drums track will be un-muted
AND the Guitar track will be un-soloed.
Freeze a Track
Any track (MIDI or RealTracks) can be frozen. When frozen, it won’t get changed or re-generated. This saves time when
replaying previous songs and allows you to freeze an arrangement that you like. If you freeze the whole song, you don’t have to
wait at all for the song to regenerate. The next time you press Play, it is ready to go.
You can make frozen tracks by pressing the [Freeze] button (snowflake) on the toolbar, and then choosing the tracks that you
want to freeze. You can also use the Play | Freeze Track menu item.

Chapter 5: Playing Songs 83

There are a number of reasons that you would freeze a track.
Reasons to Freeze a RealTracks track (audio):
- Frozen tracks will play back instantly, not requiring time to generate.
- They play back the same way each time, so if you like a solo, you can “freeze it.”
- If you send a song to a friend as “frozen,” they will hear the same performance.
- For the Soloist track, if you generate a solo, it can now be saved (by freezing the track).
Reasons to Freeze a MIDI track
- You can edit the MIDI data, to customize the performance to match a certain song, and this will be saved. Use the Notation or
Piano Roll window to edit the track.
More reasons to freeze any track
- Frozen tracks play back instantly, without requiring time to regenerate.
- They play back the same way each time.
- You can change the chord progression of the song and have one track playing a different chord progression than the rest of the
band. For example, type a “blowing” chord progression, generate a solo, freeze the solo track, then type a normal chord
progression and generate the rest of the instruments (bass/guitar etc.) that will play the normal changes.
- Have different instruments play different styles. For example, the Bass could be generated using Reggae, then Frozen, and
then the rest of the instruments generated using a Techno style.
Un-Freezing a Track(s)
This is also done from the [Freeze] button. Choose a frozen track to un-freeze it or choose “Un-Freeze all tracks.” You can also
use the Play | Freeze Track menu item.
Forcing Generation of a Song that is Frozen
Band-in-a-Box won’t touch tracks that are frozen. But if you want to change that, without having to Un-Freeze the tracks, you
can do this easily.
Hold down the Shift key as you press the [Generate and Play] button (the fly-by hint will remind you of that) or choose the
menu command Play | Play Special | Generate (even if tracks are frozen).
When you do this, the song will regenerate, the tracks will get rewritten, and the song will stay frozen. So, if you’re freezing
songs to get the instant playback with RealTracks but are tired of the “same-old” frozen arrangement, just press Shift+Play,
generate a new arrangement, and press Save. Then the new “fresh-frozen” arrangement will play instantly, even with many
RealTracks.
Tip: Obviously, you wouldn’t use this feature to force regeneration of a frozen song if you have made custom edits to the song that you don’t
want to lose, unless you’ve saved the song and have a backup copy.

Changing Volume, Panning, Reverb, Tone

In the Mixer screen, each individual track has settings for Volume, Pan, Reverb, and Tone that can be adjusted as the song is
playing. Volume, Pan, and Reverb are controlled by horizontal sliders. Tone is controlled by typing in a number from -18 (full
bass) to 18 (full treble), or by clicking on a number and dragging the mouse cursor vertically. You can also control the sliders
and dials with the mouse wheel while the mouse cursor is over them.

Hold the Ctrl key down as you click on the track slider or drag the thumb of the slider. This will force all tracks to move to the
same absolute location as the original track. Hold the Shift key and it will move all tracks relative to the move of the original
track.
Double-clicking on the slider sets the value to a default value.
There is also a Master section with a Mute button, VU meters, and Master Volume controls.

The Master Volume is a new type of volume setting for Band-in-a-Box, and is a true Master Volume, in that it applies a decibel
(dB) boost to the master signal, independent of the tracks’ volumes. So, for example, if you want all Band-in-a-Box songs to be
louder, you can simply set the “All Songs” Master volume slider (e.g., +6 dB) and this boost will apply to audio output from all
instruments (MIDI and audio) for all songs.
Slide Tracks
This feature allows you to move any of the Bass, Drums, Piano, Guitar, Strings, Melody, or Soloist tracks ahead or behind by a
definable amount. For example, you can slide the Bass track a little ahead of the rest of the band to make the bass player “drive
the band.”
To slide tracks, select the Slide Tracks option from the Edit menu. The values are measured in “ticks-per-beat” with 120 ticks
being the equivalent of a quarter note. The musically useful range is from -10 to 10.

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 Allow Any Slides: If you want the slides to occur, then enable this
option.
Humanize Slides: If you enable this, the slides will be humanized to
slide the track a different amount for each note. The amount varies
from 0 ticks (none) to the slide setting for the instrument.
Press the [Default] button to fill the tracks with default slide values.
Press the [Zeros] button to “zero-out” the slide values for all tracks.
Press the [Update] button to affect your changes and hear the result
instantly.

Tip: A track that always plays notes early by a certain amount tends to sound out of time, whereas humanizing the slide makes the track
sounds more alive.

Play Selected Area as a Loop

Shift-click on the [Play] button or press F10 (Play Selected Area as Loop), and the program will play the selected region and
loop the selection. For example, you can select bars 10 and 11 and then press F10, and bars 10 and 11 will play looped.
To use this function, select a region on the Chord Sheet.

Choose Play | Play & Loop Highlighted Section (or press F10). The selected region will then play and continues looping until
STOP is pressed.
Loop Button Menu
The [Loop] toolbar button opens a menu with the full list of looping options.
Click on the looping option you want, either the entire song or just a section that you select. Selecting the checkbox on the
button enables looping for the entire song. The Loop Section Settings dialog lets you choose exactly what to loop.

Loop any Section of the song

You can loop any section of the song. The program will then start playback at the first loop point and play the looped section
until stopped.
Looping of a section of the song is enabled in the Loop button menu or with the keystroke
NUMPAD 1.
Select Loop Section Dialog from the Loop menu button to open the Loop Section
Settings dialog, or press NUMPAD 2.
The Loop Section Settings dialog will then display.

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 The “Play within loop” command allows
you to quickly play a looped section.
Highlight the range of bars to loop on the
Chord Sheet, press NUMPAD 2 to open the
Loop Section Settings dialog, and click on
the [Play within loop] button.
To enter settings manually in this dialog,
you start by choosing either “Loop a Single
Screen of Notation” or “Loop Range of
Bars.”
“Loop a Single Screen of Notation”
(Ctrl+NUMPAD 7) loops a single screen of
notation at the current song location. The
length of the loop is determined by the
number of “Bars/Screen” specified in the
Notation Window Options.
Select “Loop Range of Bars” if you want a custom range of bars, then enter the starting “From Bar” number, the “Chorus #,”
and the “# bars” for the length of the looped section. You can then play the song with the [Play within loop] button and then
[Close] the dialog.
Presets are available to set the loop points to Introduction, First / Middle / Last Choruses or First & Middle, Middle & Last
combinations, Ending, or All. As the different buttons are selected you will see the “Loop Range of Bars” settings update.
Hotkeys are also available for these, look in the Play menu under the Looping submenu.
Loop Practicing Feature

Getting the mute to loop every Nth time is helpful to learn a certain
phrase. If you enable the Mute checkbox, the selected track will be muted every Nth loop. For the loops, you play along with
the phrase, and then “you’re on your own” when the phrase gets muted every Nth loop. You can choose the track to mute and
how often the track mutes.

The Advance to Next Loop option allows you to practice and learn
a whole song, by getting each section repeated a certain number of bars.
Once you have these settings made, you can just start a loop the usual way. For example, highlight a region, press the [Loop]
button, and select Play and loop highlighted region (or press [F10]). Or you can type L 4 Enter to start a 4-bar loop.
Loop Keystroke Commands (useful for live performance)
NUMPAD 1 Toggle looping on/off.
NUMPAD 2 Open Loop Section Settings dialog.
Ctrl+NUMPAD 1 Play with last chorus looped.
Ctrl+NUMPAD 2 Play with middle choruses looped.
Ctrl+NUMPAD 3 Play with middle and last choruses looped.
Ctrl+NUMPAD 4 Jump to last chorus.
Ctrl+NUMPAD 5 Jump to ending.
Ctrl+NUMPAD 7 Loop Notation screen.
NUMPAD [DEL] Advances the Notation, Lead Sheet, and Guitar windows by one chord (group of notes).
NUMPAD [INS] Backs up the Notation, Lead Sheet, and Guitar windows by one chord.
Notebook users should set “Simulate NUMPAD Keys” to “ON” in the Preferences dialog, then use the regular number keys to
trigger looping.
The Title bar at the top of the main screen indicates the looping status. If a song has a looped section, this will be listed at the
top of the screen (e.g., “Will loop Middle Choruses” or “Currently looping Middle Choruses”). So, you can tell what is going to
happen with the looping during a live performance.
Quick command for Looping
Looping has been enhanced with an “L” command for quickly setting a loop.
For example:
- L Enter will loop at the current point for 4 bars. (The “4” is a selectable value. See below.)
- L 8 Enter will loop for 8 bars.
- L 8, 12 Enter will loop for 8 bars starting at bar 12.
- L 8, 12, 2 Enter will loop for 8 bars starting at bar 12 of chorus 2.

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The “Default Length” option in the Loop Section Settings dialog determines the number of bars looped when you hit L Enter
keys. For example, if this is set to 4 bars, then L Enter will loop 4 bars.
“Conductor”- Live Looping/Playback control
As the song is playing, many “single key” hotkeys are now available to control the playback and looping of the song.

Play along with your MIDI Controller Keyboard

If you have an external MIDI keyboard controller connected to your computer system, you can use the MIDI THRU features to
play along with the program.
When playing along on a keyboard to the Band-in-a-Box “band,” if the sound of your keyboard is too
quiet and increasing the THRU Volume doesn’t help enough, use this option to boost the THRU velocity and make your playing
on the THRU channel louder. To set this “THRU velocity boost,” open the MIDI Settings dialog (Options | Preferences |
Channels). Click on the [Options] button and set “Boost THRU Velocity by” to a value in the range of –127 to +127 in the
MIDI Options dialog. (Default is 0.)
Harmonize your play along track by choosing MIDI Thru Harmony (Alt+F11) from the [Harmony] menu button to
choose a harmony, just as you would for the Melody.
Play Along Wizard
The Play Along Wizard is controlled with the bottom two rows of your computer’s QWERTY keyboard or your connected
MIDI keyboard. The bottom row of keys plays chord tones; the second row plays passing tones. You play any key in either row
and never make a mistake! The Wizard keys are active during playback.
A S D F G H J K L ; < This row plays PASSING tones (second, fourth, sixth)
ZXCVBNM,. < This row plays CHORD tones (root, third, fifth, seventh)
To use this feature, press the [MIDI] toolbar button and enter a check for MIDI Keyboard Wizard Enabled.

You can also select the Wizard Playalong feature option from the Play menu.

In the Play menu, toggle Wizard uses “Smart” notes to “off” (unchecked) to have the Wizard provide you access to the
chromatic scale. Toggle it “on” to have access only to the notes based on the chord/key of the song.

Also, the Wizard works with the harmony feature, so you can play along live in 4-part saxophone harmony for
example.

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Melody Wizard
For songs with melodies, there are QWERTY keys (Enter, \ , T, 6) that trigger notes from the melody as the song is being
played. Other keys trigger 1-4 approach notes from below or above. The notes can be recorded, to humanize a stiff melody with
better timing, and approach notes also useful for sight reading, rhythm practice or to perform. This feature works with
harmonies.
- Melody notes: T, 6, Enter, \
- Same Melody note: 5
- Approach notes: QWER YUIO
- Octave set: 1, 2, 3
MIDI notes also work (if Preferences [Transpose] is set to “Allow Melody Wizard on THRU part”).
- Octave set: E(40), F(41), G(43)
- Melody notes: F(53), G(55)
- Approach notes: B(47), C, D, E A, B, C, D(62)
To use the Melody Wizard, make sure the MIDI Keyboard Wizard is enabled on the [MIDI] menu button or in the Play menu.
This will also enable the MIDI Wizard on the QWERTY keys.
Then, open a song that has a melody.
Mute the Melody track with the Alt+8 keys.
Play the song. As you play the song, you can use the Enter key or the \ key (or T or 6 above the T) to play melody notes.
- W E R T: These will be approach notes up to the melody. You can start on any note.
- Q E R T: Starting on a Q instead of W will use wider voicings for approach notes.
- I U Y T: These will be approach notes down to the melody. Start on any note.
- O U Y T: Starting on an O instead of I will use wider voicings for approach notes.
MIDI Keyboard Wizard
By turning on the “Use Wizard Thru part” setting in the Options | Preferences Transpose dialog, notes played on a Thru
channel MIDI keyboard will be played through the Wizard. C, E, G, and Bb will be mapped to chord tones while D, F, A, and B
will be passing tones.
Changing Instruments / Settings for the Wizard
As a play along instrument, the Wizard uses the instrument on the Thru track. To change the instrument, volume,
reverb, etc. for the Wizard select the Thru track in the Mixer.
MIDI Normalize
If performing a live set, or at a jam session, it helps to have the volume of all of the songs be similar. Now, with a MIDI
Normalize feature, you can level the volumes to a setting in the program options. For example, you can set all volumes to be 70
and the program will make each song play within those levels. This is done in the Arrangement Options dialog (Options |
Preferences | [Arrange]).
When you have set the normalize to “on” the status area at the top of the screen reports that
Normalization is set to 70, and that the velocity of the currently playing song has been increased from 65 to 70.
The normalization will affect bass, drums, piano, guitar, and strings. If you select the “Including melody and Soloist” option, the
normalization will also affect the Melody and Soloist parts.
Outputting Chords to External Device
Some external music hardware devices require chords played in root position to drive them in real time.
An example of this is the Vocalist. It will let you sing into a microphone and harmonize your voice according to the chords that
are input to the device. Band-in-a-Box has the capability of outputting a separate channel with the chords in root position to
support such external devices automatically.
There are also settings such as complexity of chords, output channel, velocity, and note range. It will also drive “Real time
Arrangers” like the Roland RA series. The best way to accomplish this is to access the Options | Preferences and select the
[Output Chords] button. The Output Chords on Channel dialog will then open.

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 To enable this function, check the Output Chords to external MIDI out
during playback option. You can now save this chord track to the MIDI
file. Make sure the Write track to MIDI File option is checked.
With the Write chords to track number option, you can always write
chords to a certain track (e.g., Utility track #16.)
Click on the [Vocalist] button if you have such a device connected to
your MIDI system. Band-in-a-Box will then send it the appropriate chord
information automatically as your song is playing (e.g., root position
triads).
Select the Channel #. Recommended values are 9, 11-16. Default is 9.
Remember to turn OFF the MIDI channel used for this function on your
sound source so that this MIDI data does not interfere with song
playback.
Set the Velocity. Most external devices do not require an audible velocity
to be triggered. Default is 90.

Select the appropriate Note Range to output that your external device requires to function correctly. (Note: The [Vocalist]
button inserts the appropriate note range values for the Digitech Vocalist to operate correctly. If your device is not a Vocalist,
refer to your manufacturer’s documentation for the appropriate Note Range values.)
Select the Chord Types appropriate for your external device. Options are basic triads, 7ths only, or complex chords (e.g., all
extensions).
Change the # ticks before chord change to output you wish to have output sent to your external device. Change this setting to
allow your external device sufficient time to accept MIDI data and program changes. (120 ticks = 1 beat.) Default is 40.
Set the Output Chords During Lead In checkbox to true to enable MIDI chord data to be sent during a song lead-in.
Enable the Output MIDI Sync info checkbox to send MIDI sync info to your external device.
Set the Display Output on Piano checkbox to true to enable MIDI chord data to be displayed on the piano keyboard.
Press the [Update] button to apply changes to Band-in-a-Box. These will remain in effect until new changes are applied. Press
the [OK] or [Cancel] button when you wish to exit this window.
Outputting Chords to Track
A chord track can be generated on any track. Right-click on the track in the Mixer and select Edit MIDI | Generate Chord Track
on this track from the menu. You will then see the Output Chords to Track dialog with options about the chord track to be
generated.
These options include channel, velocity, note range, chord types, ticks
before the chord change, and output chords during lead in. If the chord
types are set to “triads, 7ths only,” a chord like C13 will be played as a
C7, but if they are set to “complex chords,” a C13 chord will be played
as C13. The default setting for “# ticks before chord change to output”
is 0, which means chords will be exactly on the downbeat, but if you
enter a number other than 0, the chords will start a little bit earlier and
may have sufficient time to swell.

Some MIDI SuperTracks generate a simple chord track (triads/7ths) or a chord track including 9ths/13ths. Adding these MIDI
SuperTracks to your track will write a chord track in the range set, for use with arpeggiators or other VSTs wanting a chord
track. With each play a new chord track is written. To do this, open the Select MIDI SuperTracks dialog and choose one that has
“Arpeggio” in the name.

Changing MIDI Instrument

To select a MIDI Instrument for any MIDI track, right-click on the track radio button at the top of the screen and go to Select
MIDI Instrument (Patch) and choose one of the menu commands.

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Select Hi-Q Patch Plugin: Use this menu command if you want to select a preset of a Hi-Q MIDI instrument and a VST plugin
(e.g., sforzando).
Select no MIDI Patch: This will remove the current selection of the MIDI Instrument.
Select General MIDI Patch: This will allow you to select an instrument from the list of GM patches.
Select GM 2 Patch: This will allow you to select an instrument from General MIDI 2 patches.
Select Higher Bank Patch (from .Pat file): This will allow you to select a higher bank instrument on your particular synthesizer.
About Patch Changes
Patch changes are embedded in the Band-in-a-Box styles and these patches are loaded with songs by default. They can be
disabled in the MIDI Options dialog found in the Preferences. Alternate patches can be saved with a song (Alt+F2).
General MIDI 2 support
General MIDI 2 standard (GM2) adds 128 more MIDI instruments to Band-in-a-Box styles and songs, including ukulele,
mandolin, 12-string guitar plus many new and improved piano, organ, guitar, brass, and string sounds.
Note: The included Coyote synth supports GM2 instruments, as do most newer modules/sound chips. If yours doesn’t, a similar instrument
from the existing 128 General MIDI sounds will be substituted.

The type of GM2 support is set in the MIDI Driver Setup dialog (Options | MIDI/Audio Driver Setup). The choices are:
- General MIDI 2 support: If you’re using a newer Sound Canvas then choose this GM2 support.
- Roland GS (older Modules): “Older” Sound Canvases (SC55/SC88) support GS, but not GM2. The good news is that they
have the same patches available, just at different locations. So, if you choose this option, Band-in-a-Box will find the patches
at the “GS” locations instead of the “GM2” locations. If you have a newer GS module like the SC8820 that supports both
GM2 and GS, you should likely choose GM2.
- No GM2 support: Most sound cards don’t have GM2 support yet, so just support the original 128 General MIDI sounds.
Band-in-a-Box will use the closest instrument in these cases.
You can select a GM2 patch in the Select MIDI Patch submenu of the Track (right-click) menu. This shows a menu grouped by
instrument types.

Additional Patches
A “patch” is a MIDI instrument name. Examples of patches are Acoustic Bass, Electric Piano, and Violin. Patches are used to
emulate real instruments through MIDI playback. Band-in-a-Box defaults to using the standard bank of General MIDI patches
used by all MIDI manufacturers, but many MIDI synthesizers and sound cards have additional patches available as alternatives
to the basic GM list. These sounds are typically found on higher banks in memory.
Patches on Higher Banks Dialog
You can select a higher bank patch in the Select MIDI Patch submenu of the Track (right-click)
menu. This opens the Patches on Higher Banks dialog for easy access to patches on all other banks as well as General MIDI.

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To narrow your sound search you can do one or all of the following:
- Open the patch list and select an instrument (i.e., Electric Bass, Acoustic Piano, etc.)
- Click on the “Include Family” checkbox to have other offerings of similar type shown. (i.e., all bass family patches, all
keyboard family patches, etc.)
- Find a patch by keyword by clicking the [Search] button and typing some letters that you know are in the name (e.g.,
“mando” will find your mandolin patch and any others containing “mando”).
Click on the [www.Dowload more PAT files] button to go to the PG Music web page where you can download more patch
files from https://www.pgmusic.com/support_miscellaneous.htm.
Converting Synthesizer Patch Lists in Band-in-a-Box
Band-in-a-Box can read a patch file list generated by PowerTracks Pro Audio or Cakewalk and convert it to a .PAT file for use
in Band-in-a-Box.
Converting PowerTracks patch list to Band-in-a-Box .PAT files
PowerTracks stores its patch lists in a single file, called PATCHES.INI. This file contains all of the patch lists for the synths
supported by PowerTracks. Band-in-a-Box stores the patch list for each synth in a separate file, with an extension of .PAT.
To convert a PowerTracks patch file to a Band-in-a-Box Patch file, you will be choosing the C:\pt\patches.ini, and then
choosing the synth that you want to convert to a .PAT file.
Open the Patches on Higher Banks dialog from the Select MIDI Patch submenu of the right-click tracks menu.
Note: If a .PAT file has not been previously selected, a File Open dialog will appear. Select a .PAT file from the C:\bb\Data\Util\Synth Kits\
directory to launch the Patches on Higher Banks dialog.
Press the [Open INI/INS] button to launch the Open File dialog. Choose the file C:\pt\patches.ini.
You will then see a list of synths stored in the patches.INI file. Select one to convert.
Create a name for the .PAT file (e.g., My Patch List.PAT) and save it to C:\bb\Data\Util\Synth Kits.
Converting a Cakewalk .INS file to a Band-in-a-Box .PAT file
This is done using the same process described above for PowerTracks, except that you open the individual .INS file instead of a
PATCHES.INI file. For example, if you have a Cakewalk file called “My Synth.INS” you would select this file name. You
would then save that converted list to C:\bb\Data\Util\Synth Kits\My Synth.PAT.
Hi-Q MIDI Instruments for SynthMaster Player
SynthMaster Player is an award-winning synth by KV331 Audio has thousands of presets that are especially useful for modern,
techno and arpeggiator sounds
SynthMaster support built into Band-in-a-Box includes:
- MIDI SuperTracks that use sounds with arpeggiators.
- Access to SynthMaster sounds using the “Load Plugin” from the track’s right-menu to choose from thousands of SynthMaster
sounds, or choose “Load Hi-Q patch “dialog to choose from presets made by PG Music for some nice sounds available in
SynthMaster just by picking a patch.
- SynthMaster Player comes with thousands of sounds, so you can simply select Choose Plugin from the Plugin tab menu on
the Mixer, choose SynthMaster, and choose one of these sounds from the SynthMaster Player panel.
- Styles can be made to play with SynthMaster sounds without need to load it.
- MIDI SuperTracks Disk for SynthMaster synth is included, using a mix of SynthMaster sounds, MIDI SuperTracks with
arpeggiators and RealTracks.
SynthMaster is installed to the following folders by default:
C:\Program Files\KV331 Audio
C:\Program Files\VSTPlugins\KV331 Audio

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To use SynthMaster as a default synth, open the MIDI/Audio Driver Setup dialog (Options | Preferences | [MIDI Driver]), and
press the [VSTi/DXi Synth] button.

SynthMaster is automatically added to the plugin list. Simply

select “<VSTi> JV331 Audio: SynthMaster 2 Player” from the list
and press OK.

When SynthMaster is selected as a default synth, its name shows in the [VSTi/DXi Synth]
button.
To select MIDI SuperTracks that use SynthMaster sounds, right-click on a track button and choose Select MIDI SuperTrack for
this track from the menu.

This will open the Select MIDI SuperTracks dialog. Type a “SynthMaster” text to filter the list.

Some of them have arpeggiators in the sounds. Select one you like and press OK and answer yes to the confirmation message.

You will see that the track label has turned blue to indicate that it is a MIDI SuperTrack.
In the Mixer, you can confirm that the SynthMaster synth sound is loaded to the track.

If you want to customize the sound, click on the SynthMaster synth in the Plugins tab to open the synth window.

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You can also access SynthMaster sounds using the Hi-Q patch dialog. Right-click on a track button, and go to Select MIDI
Instrument (Patch) | Select Mi-Q MIDI Patch Plugin. This will open the dialog that lists Hi-Q patch plugins (.tgs). Type
“SynthMaster” in the text filter and select any of the presets that PG Music has made.

SynthMaster comes with thousands of sounds. To choose a sound, right-click on the [Plugin] in the Mixer to open a menu and
select Choose Plugin.

Then, select “<VSTi> JV331 Audio: SynthMaster 2 Player” from the list of plugins and press OK.

You can now choose from many sounds in the SynthMaster Player panel.

Some styles use MIDI SuperTracks that automatically play with SynthMaster sounds. They are included in MIDI SuperTracks
Set 39. In the StylePicker, you can find them using the [Other] filter button menu item Specific MIDI SuperTracks Set #.

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When you look at the mixer area in the StylePicker, you can see which tracks use SynthMaster sounds.

Hi-Q MIDI Instruments for sforzando

We have added a new VST synthesizer, with support for popular .SFZ sound format, as well as PG Music’s Hi-Q sounds. Many
sounds that have been developed with the .SFZ format are available on the internet and are ready to play with Band-in-a-Box
using this synth. Your existing Band-in-a-Box Hi-Q sounds will play using this synthesizer, so previous songs or styles you
made will play with this new synth. This synth is installed with Band-in-a-Box and is ready to play and does not require
configuration.

Most of the interaction between Band-in-a-Box and the sforzando synth will be behind-the-scenes, so you don’t need to do
anything. Just “pick a style and press play” as usual. This is because the styles that need to use the synth are coded to do so in
the style, using the Hi-Q patch.

If you want to add a specific Hi-Q sound, right-click on the track button and go to Select MIDI Instrument (Patch) | Select Hi-Q
MIDI Patch Plugin. This will display a list of available Hi-Q sounds.

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When you choose a Hi-Q sound from the list, sforzando will be loaded, with the Hi-Q instrument.

If you want to use a custom sound, such as an .SFZ sound that you have acquired, then you can launch the sforzando synth by
clicking on the first slot in the [Plugins] tab in the Mixer.

Save Your Mixer Settings

Save your song with the [Save As] button, choosing the menu item Save Song with Patches Harmony, or with the
menu command File | Save Special | Save Song with Patches & Harmony, to save all of your Mixer settings.

Adding Real Instruments – RealDrums and RealTracks

Your songs, styles, and solos can use live audio tracks recorded by studio musicians.
RealDrums
The RealDrums are recordings of top studio drummers, playing multi-bar patterns. MIDI drums are patterns based on single
drum hits, being programmed, typically on a quantized grid, of what people assume drummers are typically playing. We record
drummers at multiple tempos, so the playing you hear at various tempos is also musically different, not just “sped up.”
Drummers play different types of fills etc. at slower/faster tempos, and these are captured with RealDrums.
How Do RealDrums Work?
There are several ways to hear RealDrums with new or existing Band-in-a-Box songs. The simplest way is to select a style that
already uses RealDrums. In the StylePicker, styles with RealDrums can be identified in the list by a style name beginning with
a minus sign. For example, “-ZZJAZZ.STY” is a version of the ZZJAZZ.STY that uses RealDrums.
Selecting RealDrums - RealDrums Picker
The RealDrums Picker is used to assign a particular RealDrums style for just the one song you are working on. RealDrums
made by you (or others) that are added by you to the Drums folder also appear in the RealDrums Picker dialog.
The RealDrums Picker opens by several ways.

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1. Press the R D Enter or R D 1 Enter keys.
2. Click on the [RealDrums] toolbar button and select the menu command RealDrums Picker Dialog, or Shift-click on this
button.
3. Right-click (or double-click) on the Drums track button at the top of the main screen and choose RealDrums in the menu.
4. Click on the Drums track in the Mixer and choose RealDrums in the menu.
5. RealDrums can be added to any track, not just the Drums track, so you can have more than one drums track. To do this,
right-click on a track button and select Choose RealDrums.
6. Click on the RealDrums radio button in the Track Settings and Actions dialog.

You can double-click on a RealDrums or on the Variation name of the RealDrums to audition each variation of the RealDrums.
For example, if you’ve found CountryWaltz^, you can now hear demos of the variations (CountryWaltz^1-HiHat,Ride,
CountryWaltz^2-Brushes etc.).
Each demo has a “band” version with all instruments and a “solo” version with
drums only. You can choose which of them plays first when you double-click on
the list, by the Band (on Double Click) checkbox. Otherwise, press the [Band] or
the [Solo] button. The demos play 4 bars of “a” substyle, and then 4 bars of “b”
substyle, using the current RealDrums (left hand panel) and the variation (right
hand panel).
RealDrums QuickList
This is the simpler dialog for choosing RealDrums, an alternative to the RealDrums Picker. It displays all available RealDrums
in a simple list, which can be easily filtered by genre, time signature, feel, and more. The list can be set to show only RealDrums
that are compatible with the current style of the song. You can also set the highlighted RealDrums as a prototype RealDrums to
find alternates to that RealDrums.
To open the dialog, right-click on the Drums track button, and select [QuickList] RealDrums in Song from the menu.
Tip: Pressing the R D 3 Enter keys also opens the dialog.

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You can filter the list by genre, time signature, feel, tempo, and text. Use the [Set to Style: ] button to see RealDrums that are
compatible with the current style of the song. The [Set to RD: ] button allows you to set the highlighted RealDrums as a
prototype RealDrums so you can find alternates to that RealDrums. Press the [Clear] button to clear any filter.
RealTracks
What are RealTracks?
Just as RealDrums replace the MIDI drum track with live audio recordings of top session drummers, RealTracks add “Real”
instruments recorded by top studio players and recording artists. These tracks replace the MIDI track for that instrument and can
be controlled just like the MIDI instrument (volume changes, muting, etc.). Best of all, they follow the chord progression that
you have entered, so that you hear an authentic audio accompaniment to your song. These are not “samples,” but are full
recordings, lasting from 1 to 8 bars at a time, playing along in perfect sync with the other Band-in-a-Box tracks. RealTracks can
be built in to the style, and would replace the Bass, Guitar, Piano, or Strings track, or they can be generated to the Soloist (or
Melody) track using the Soloist feature.
We include a selection of Pop, Jazz, and Country RealTracks Combos with Band-in-a-Box Pro. Many more RealTracks are
available as separate add-ons or bundled into the various Band-in-a-Box PAKs for better value.
Using RealTracks in Songs - RealTracks Picker
The RealTracks Picker allows you to assign a specific RealTracks instruments to a track in a song. It also displays any
RealTracks that are currently assigned to each track.
Note: RealTracks can be assigned either from the style or from the song. This dialog allows you to assign the ones in the song.
This dialog is launched by several ways.
1. Press the R T Enter or R T 1 Enter keys.
2. Click on the [RealTracks] toolbar button and select RealTracks Picker Dialog, or Shift-click on this button.
3. Right-click or double-click on a track radio button at the top of the screen and choose Select RealTracks in the menu.
4. Click on a track name in the Mixer and choose Select RealTracks in the menu.
5. Press the [Assign to Track] button in the RealTracks Settings dialog.
6. In the Track Settings and Actions dialog, click on the [+] button to the right of the RealTracks radio button and choose
Select RealTracks in the menu.

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To use the dialog, first select the track at the top left corner. Then, select the RealTracks for that track from the list.
You can instantly hear an audio demo of RealTracks by double-clicking a RealTrack on the list. Since this doesn’t affect your
song, you can quickly audition many different RealTracks, and find the best ones for your song.
You can choose which of band or solo plays first when you double-click on the list, by
the Band (on Double Click) checkbox. Otherwise, press the [Band] or the [Solo]
button. The demos play from the Internet (www.pgmusic.com) or your hard drive
(C:\bb\Demos\RealTracks-Demos).

Adding MIDI SuperTracks

What are MIDI SuperTracks?
MIDI SuperTracks are MIDI tracks that can be added to a track or a style and play like other MIDI tracks in a style. They are
called “SuperTracks” because they are generated using a different engine than typical MIDI style tracks. Typical MIDI style
tracks are generated from C7 patterns in the style and repeat these patterns over any chord. MIDI SuperTracks use actual MIDI
playing from musicians (similar to RealTracks in that regard), so are not based on patterns.
Using MIDI SuperTracks
To use MIDI SuperTracks, either:
1. Choose a style or song that has MIDI SuperTracks and press Play. Look in the MIDI SuperTracks Demos folder for these
songs
2. Add a MIDI SuperTrack to a certain track.
Adding a MIDI SuperTrack
For example, let’s add a MIDI SuperTrack to the Piano track. Right-click on the Piano track label at the top of the screen to see
a menu of options (or right-click on the Piano track in the Mixer), then choose Select MIDI SuperTrack for this track.

You will see the Select MIDI SuperTracks dialog.

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You can type a text or press the filter button [#] to narrow down your search.
There are memos describing the individual MIDI SuperTracks, and you can click on the memo for a big window.
You can preview the MIDI SuperTracks by double-clicking on the list or using the transport control buttons.
Pressing the [Artist Bios] button opens the Artist Browser which lists all RealTracks artists and allows you to see more info.
Choose a MIDI SuperTrack from the list and click [OK].
You will then see that the Piano track label has turned blue to indicate that it is a MIDI SuperTrack.
In the Mixer’s Plugins panel, you will see that a VST plugin has been selected to the Piano track. If you want to customize the
sound, right-click on the VST plugin name in the Mixer to open the plugin’s window.

Non-Concert Visual Transpose

This feature displays the chords and notation for non-concert key instruments like trumpet and saxophone in the non-concert key
(Bb, Eb) while the music plays in concert key.
Note: This does not transpose the music. To do that, use
the song key box to the right of the Style area.

Pressing the [Chord Display] button opens a list of concert and non-concert instruments. There are also settings for guitar capo,
tuning the guitar down, and visual transpose of any number of semitones.

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There are also settings for guitar capo, tuning the guitar down, and visual transpose of any number of semitones.

For example, with “Capo at Fret 2” selected, if you enter a D

chord it will play as an E chord but display as a D chord. This is also true for notes entered in
notation.
You can also tune the guitar down from 1 semitone to 8 semitones. If you tune down by 1 semitone a
song entered in E will display in E but play in Eb.

The Conductor
The Conductor provides live looping and playback control. As the song is playing, there are options to allow control the flow
of playback by one of three methods:
1. Conductor window
2. QWERTY hotkeys
3. MIDI keyboard
Many “single key” hotkeys are available to control the playback and looping of the song. For example, pressing the “4” key will
ensure that the middle chorus is the next one played, and pressing the “S” key will ensure that the middle section is looped. This
would be useful to extend a song that has the last chorus playing. Custom loop points can also be set for each song. These
settings are ideal for live performance or “jam sessions” where you aren’t entering new Band-in-a-Box songs but want full
control of the playback. These loops happen seamlessly at the end of the chorus, so are suitable for the “dance floor.” In addition,
you can control Band-in-a-Box from a standard MIDI keyboard, pressing MIDI keys corresponds to program functions. For
example, load the next song, play/pause/tempo adjust/change thru patch/jump to middle choruses/open the notation or lead sheet
window – all from your MIDI keyboard!
The Conductor is launched with the [Conductor Window] button on the Transport toolbar, the Ctrl + tilde (~) hotkeys,
or menu option Window | Conductor Window.

You must enable the QWERTY keys to be active for the Conductor during playback. This is done by selecting the Enable
Control by QWERTY keys checkbox on the Conductor window.

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If you want to control the Conductor using the MIDI keyboard, you need to enable this by selecting the checkbox Enable
control by MIDI keyboard. When this setting is enabled, any MIDI input will be interpreted as a hotkey for the Conductor, and
you won’t hear MIDI thru.
OK to change settings above by A/Bb/B in octave: If you’d like the ability to switch your MIDI keyboard between Conductor
mode and regular playing mode, you can do this using the lowest “A-natural” MIDI note on your keyboard. This is A1 on an 88-
note keyboard. Note A1 will turn the Conductor off, Bb1 turns it on, and B1 will toggle the Conductor on only when the Bb1
note is held down. If you don’t have an 88-note keyboard, you can set the octave setting to a number higher than 1, for example
if you set it to “3,” then notes A3/Bb3/B3 will turn the Conductor Off/On/Toggled.
Using the Conductor QWERTY or MIDI keys, you can:
- define and jump to up to 10 user defined sections in the song,
- jump back 1 bar/4 bars/# of bars/screen/part/chorus/section,
- jump ahead 1 bar/4 bars/# of bars/screen/part/chorus/section,
- LOOP 1 bar/4 bars/# of bars/screen/part/chorus/section,
- pause/stop the song.
In addition, using the MIDI keyboard, you can also use the Conductor to:
A1 (note#21) Turn MIDI Conductor OFF
Bb1 Turn MIDI Conductor ON
B1 Turn MIDI Conductor ON only as note is held down
Here are the various functions available using the Conductor. The MIDI key and QWERTY hotkey are shown.
C3 Normal Tempo Ctrl =
C# Half Speed Tempo Ctrl -
D3 Quarter Speed Tempo
Eb3 Eighth Speed Tempo
E3 Loop Section Enabled NUMPAD 1
F3 Play with last chorus looped Ctrl-NUMPAD 1
F#3 Play with middle choruses looped Ctrl-NUMPAD 2
G3 Play with middle and last choruses looped Ctrl-NUMPAD 3
G#3 Jump to last chorus (no loop) Ctrl-NUMPAD 4
A3 Jump to ending (no loop) Ctrl-NUMPAD 5
Bb3 Loop notation screen
B3 Decrease Tempo by 1 Shift [
C4(48) Increase Tempo by 1 Shift ]
Db4 Decrease Tempo by 5 [
D4 Increase Tempo by 5 ]
Eb4 Tap Tempo - (press 4 times)
E4 Tap Tempo and play = (press 4 times)
F4 Play F4
F#4 Stop Escape
G4 Pause Backspace (or Ctrl H)
G#4 Replay Ctrl A
A4 MIDI Panic F12
Bb4 Previous Song Ctrl-Shift-F8
B4 Next Song Shift-F8
C5(60) This is a control character for THRU patches. When C5 is held down, pressing MIDI notes 61/62 decrease/increase
the THRU patch by one, and 63-72 change THRU patches to Favorite patches.
Db5 Open Notation Window Ctrl-W
D5 Lead sheet Window Alt-W
Eb5 Reduce All Volumes by 5 Ctrl-Alt-Shift-Q
E5 Increase all Volumes by 5 Ctrl-Alt-Shift-W
F5 ALL Mute/Unmute Alt-2
F#5 Bass Mute/Unmute Alt-3
G5 Piano Mute/Unmute Alt-4
G#5 Drums/Unmute Alt-5
A5 Guitar Mute/Unmute Alt-6

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Bb5 Strings Mute/Unmute Alt-7
B5 Melody/Unmute Alt-8
C6 Soloist Mute/Unmute Alt-9
Db6 THRU Mute/Unmute Alt 0
D6 Audio Mute
F6 to D7 Jump to Sections 1-10 of the song 1-9 and 0
Eb7 Loop Current Chorus a
E7 Loop Current Section s
F7 Loop Current Bar z
F#7 Loop Current 4 Bars x
G7 Loop current Part c
Ab7 Looping ON, previous setting v
A7 Looping OFF b
Bb7 Go Back 1 Chorus Ctrl a
B7 Go Back 1 Section Ctrl s
C8 Go Back 1 Screen Ctrl d
Db8 Go Back 1 Bar Ctrl z
D8 Go Back 4 Bars Ctrl x
Eb8 Go Back 1 Part marker Ctrl c
E8 Go Ahead 1 Chorus Shift A
F8 Go Ahead 1 Section Shift S
F#8 Go Ahead 1 Screen Shift D
G8 Go Ahead 1 Bar Shift Z
Ab8 Go Ahead 4 Bars Shift X
A8 Go Ahead 1 Part marker Shift C
Customizing the Sections
Sections: This allows you to define up to 10 points in the song that are sections. By default, the following sections are defined
for each song.
- Section 1: Start of song
- Section 2: Intro
- Section 3: First Chorus
- Section 4: Middle Chorus (i.e., start of chorus #2)
- Section 5: Last Chorus
- Section 6: Ending
- Sections 7-10 are user definable. To do this, type in any bar # using the bar/chorus format (e.g., 21/2 would be bar 21, chorus
2).
If you prefer to enter custom values for the section numbers, you can do this if you
check the “custom” checkbox, and then type in up to 10 bar numbers for each
section.

The section numbers are saved with the song. Once you have defined the sections, you can jump to a certain section of the song
as the song is playing, simply by:
1. Pressing the 1-9 or 0 key on the QWERTY keyboard or,
2. Opening the Conductor window (Ctrl + ~ hotkey) and clicking on the section button or,
3. Pressing MIDI keys 77-86 (F6 to D7) corresponding to sections 1-10.
Mode (when to do the action)
By pressing a QWERTY hotkey prior to an action, you can control when the action will take place. If no mode hotkey is pressed
prior to an action, the default mode will occur.
The default is set in the “Default Mode for section change” or “Default Mode for going back or
ahead” combo box.

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For example, by default, the section change will occur as soon as you press the key, and it will go to the equivalent place in the
bar immediately before the beginning of the target section (so that the music stays in time, and next section begins at the end of
the bar). But you can change the default for the action to take place at the end of the current bar or current part marker etc.

Example uses of the Conductor:

In this example, we don’t have custom sections set, so the default sections apply (middle chorus = section 4 etc.).
- Jump to the start of middle choruses during playback (press 4).
- Loop the middle chorus (press S, which is Loop Section).
- Jump to the end of the song (press 6).
- Pause the song (Backspace).
- Go back 1 chorus (Ctrl a).
- Go ahead 1 chorus (Shift A).
At the end of the current chorus, go back 1 section, press Y then Ctrl S.
Note: Pressing the Y sets the mode to do the action at the end of the current chorus.
These actions can also be done with the MIDI keyboard. See the MIDI keyboard mapping diagram for details.
Example using the MIDI keyboard
Assume Charlie is a piano player who uses his MIDI keyboard with Band-in-a-Box, and would like to play his keyboard, but
also use it to control Band-in-a-Box.

He sets the Conductor to allow his MIDI keyboard lowest notes A/Bb/B to turn the Conductor mode OFF/ON/Toggled-when
held.
When he turns it off (low A note), he can play his keyboard normally.
If he wants to pause the song, he holds down the low B3 note as he presses the MIDI key for pause, which is G4. The song will
pause, and the Conductor mode turns off as he lets go of the B3 key, and he can resume his piano playing. If Charlie didn’t plan
on using the MIDI keyboard for piano playing, he could leave it in Conductor mode by turning it on with the A3 key.

The Jukebox
Use the Jukebox for continuous playback of a whole list of Band-in-a-Box songs or to play all or the songs in a folder.
The  button plays the previous song in the directory; the  button plays the next song in alphabetical order.
The Jukebox will continue to play while you move to other Windows® programs, providing continuous background music.
Click on the [Play Jukebox] button or select Play | Jukebox Play menu item to open the Options for Juke Box dialog.
Jukebox Options

Only Play Song with Melodies: If set to YES, the program plays only songs with
melodies, that is, songs with an .MG? file extension. If NO, the Jukebox will include
ALL songs in the subdirectory.
Change Melody Instrument: If you set enable option, then the program will
randomly change the melody instrument among your favorite 10 Melody instruments.
Random Order Playback: If set to “Yes,” the songs will be played in random order
(though not repeating a song). If set to “No,” the songs will be played in the order
they are listed in the subdirectory.
Hide Titles (Until Title Clicked): This feature is used to play the “Guess the Song”
game. When set to “Yes,” the titles are hidden till you click on the title box.
Audible Count-in Click: While listening to the Jukebox, you might not want to hear
the Count-in Click. If set to “No,” you won’t hear the count-in click.
Harmony Settings: Enable the Change Harmony option if you want harmonies in a
given number range to be randomly assigned for use with the Melody and
Soloist/Thru tracks (if applicable to the song).

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Generate Solos: Enable this option to permit the Soloist to play a solo over all the songs selected for Jukebox Playback.
1. Change to this directory by loading/opening a song from the C:\bb\Demos\Soloist Demos\SOLODEMO directory.
2. Instead of playing the song you have loaded, press the [Juke] button.
3. Ensure that the Generate Solos checkbox is set to “Yes.”
4. Select [PLAY JUKE BOX]. The Soloist Select Dialog will open with a suggestion to use a Soloist for the first song in the
Jukebox list. This is normal. Press [OK] to accept the Soloist suggestion. (The Jukebox will not bother you with the Select
Soloist dialog again; it will simply choose an appropriate Soloist for any given song in the Jukebox song list.)
Auto-Choose Soloists: Enable this option to permit the program to choose the Soloists to use.
Change Soloist Instrument w/each chorus: Enable this option, and the Soloists will always change instruments with each
chorus.
Preview: The Jukebox Preview mode will optionally play just one chorus of each song or a number of bars of each song (e.g., 8
bars). To access this, select the (Preview) Switch to next song after _ bars checkbox and set the # of bars to use for the
preview. A setting of 99 plays one chorus of each song.
Delay between songs: The user can set a selectable time delay (in seconds) between songs.
Note: To manually start playback of each song in the jukebox list, set “Pause Play Until MIDI or Key received” to On (checked) in the
Preferences dialog. At the end of each song the jukebox will load the next song in the list and then pause until playback is started by sending
a MIDI note or a computer keystroke.
Check Loop Jukebox at end for continuous jukebox play rather than stopping at the end of the list.
You can change the directory before starting the Juke Box with the [Change Directory] button. You can also type a folder
name directly, instead of using the folder dialog.

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 Chapter 6: Making Songs
Make Your Own Songs
It’s fun to play music with Band-in-a-Box, but it’s even more fun to make songs of your own. This section gives you step-by-
step instructions from start to finish.
Clear the Chord Sheet
Click on the [New] button if you need to blank the Chord Sheet. You can also select the File | New menu item.

Name the Song

Enter the title of the song by clicking on the title area and typing in the name.

Choose a Key
You can use the special operators “tk” and “tr” to set or transpose a key signature.
Typing tkc plus the Enter key will set the key of the song to C. Typing tkbb sets it to Bb. Note that this sets the key signature
but does not transpose the song.
The “tr” operator sets the key signature and transposes the song. Typing trf and pressing Enter would transpose the song to the
key of F, typing trab would transpose the song to Ab.
Another way to set a key signature is to click on the [Key] button and choose the key of your song from the lists of all
major and minor keys. If you select from the “Transpose and Set Key Signature” column the song will be transposed to
the new key signature you choose. If you select from the “Just Set Key Signature (no transpose)” column, the key
signature will be changed but the song will not be transposed.
You can have multiple keys in a song by changing the key signature in the Edit Settings for Current Bar dialog (F5 function
key).
Set the tempo
The tempo is displayed next to the key signature. You can quickly enter a specific tempo for the song by typing the
letter “t” together with the tempo and pressing the Enter key. For example, type t140 and Enter to set the tempo of
the song to 140.
Click on the tempo box (hotkey is Ctrl+Alt+T, or menu item Edit | Tempo | Set Tempo…), and a dialog will open up allowing
you to type in a tempo.
When choosing File | New the tempo will be set to the best tempo for the current style. Click on the arrow buttons to adjust the
tempo up or down.
- Left-click to change by 5 beats per minute at a time.
- Right-click to change by 1 beat per minute at a time.
You can also press the [ key to decrease the tempo by 5, and ] key to increase the tempo by 5.
Setting the Relative Tempo
This button allows you to quickly set the relative tempo. Click on the button and choose a percentage or use the Custom
Tempo % menu item to set any value between 1% and 800%. 1% would be 1/100 of the original tempo and 800% would
be 8 times the original tempo. Hotkeys are available: Ctrl - (minus key) for half speed and Ctrl = for normal speed.
Tap the Tempo
Not sure of the tempo for your song? Tap it in real time on either the minus [-] key or the equals [=] key on your computer
keyboard. Four taps on the minus key sets the tempo, four taps on the equals key sets the tempo and starts the song
playing. As you tap more than 4 times, the accuracy will improve (through averaging) and you can continue to tap until
the target tempo has been reached. For example, in a 4/4/ style, once you tap 4 times a tempo will be set. But you can keep
tapping and the tempo will change every beat, based on the average tempo that you have typed. You can also click on the
on-screen [-] and [=] buttons to the right of the tempo box.
“Frame” the Song
Framing a song designates the first and last bars of each chorus and the number of choruses Band-in-a-Box will play before
playing the standard 2-bar ending.
You can type special words to set the beginning and end of the chorus, and the end of the song.
- B E G I N Enter sets the beginning of the chorus to the current bar.
- C H O R U S E N D Enter sets the end of the chorus to the current bar.

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- E N D Enter sets the end of the song to the current bar.
Another option is to right-click a bar in the Chord Sheet to set it as the beginning or end of the chorus or the end of the song
from the settings in the context menu.

For this song, bar one is the first bar of the chorus and bar 32 is the last bar of the chorus. The chorus
will play three times, jumping to the two-bar ending the third time through.

Chord Entry
Enter Chords from MIDI Keyboard
You can enter chords from an external MIDI. Play the chord on the keyboard, then press Ctrl+Enter to insert the chord into the
Chord Sheet on the first beat of the current chord cell, i.e., beat 1 or beat 3 of the bar. Use Ctrl+Shift+Enter to insert the chord
on the next beat, i.e., beat 2 or beat 4 of the bar.
Another method allows you to choose alternate chords. Select the Window | MIDI Chord Detection | MIDI Chord Detection
menu item to open the dialog.

When you play chords, Band-in-a-Box shows you the chord name and suggests alternates that you can choose from. Typing
Ctrl+Enter enters the first selection and advances the highlight cell by ½ bar. To place an alternate chord in the Chord Sheet,
click on the [Enter] button beside the chord you want.
Import Chords from Audio File - Audio Chord Wizard
You can import chords from an audio file using the Audio Chord Wizard.
This feature analyzes a WAV, WMA, MP3, WMV, or CDA audio file and imports it to Band-in-a-Box. The Audio
Chord Wizard is fully described in the Working with Audio chapter. It works out the tempo, bar lines, and chord
changes so you can easily make your favorite files into Band-in-a-Box songs.
Import Chords from MIDI File - MIDI Chord Wizard
You can import chords from a MIDI file. To do this, first blank the Chord Sheet by choosing File | New. Then select the menu
item File | Import | Import Chords from MIDI file to launch the Interpret Chords from MIDI file dialog. Press the [Open
(Change)…] button to select the MIDI file that you’d like to import. Once you’ve selected the file, you can press the
[INTERPRET CHORDS NOW] button. When you do that, the chords will be interpreted from the MIDI file, and written onto
the Chord Sheet.
Import a Band-in-a-Box Song
Easily import part or all of an existing Band-in-a-Box song to your current song, with options to specify source and destination
range, type of information to import (chords, melody, lyrics, etc.) and more. Choose File | Import | Import MGU Song.
In the Import Band-in-a-Box Song dialog, choose the range that you want to import (Import from Bar and # of bars), and the
destination bar (Import to Bar). You can also choose which information to import, and the insert mode (Insert/Overwrite).

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Computer Keyboard Entry
The most common way of entering the chords for a song in Band-in-a-Box is by typing them in from the computer keyboard.
Up to 4 chords per beat may be entered.
Chords are commonly typed-in using standard chord symbols (like C or Fm7 or Bb7 or Bb13#9/E), but you can enter them in
any of the supported chord symbol display formats - Roman Numerals, Nashville Notation, Solfeggio, and Fixed Do.
Tip: To view a list of chords recognized by Band-in-a-Box refer to the Chord List topic in the Help file.
To start typing in chords:
- Go to the top (Bar 1) of the Chord Sheet. The Home key will go directly there.
- Blank the Chord Sheet (if necessary) by clicking on the [New] button or selecting File | New menu item.
This is the chord highlight cell. Chords will be entered wherever this is placed. You may move this around by
cursor (arrow) keys, the Enter key, or a mouse click.
The chord highlight bar moves 2 beats at a time (½ a bar). When you have the chord highlight cell over the area that you want to
enter a chord, you simply type the name of the chord you want to see there.
For example, type c6 to get the C6 chord. Note that you should never have to use the Shift key, as Band-in-a-Box will sort this
out for you.
- Use b for a flat, e.g., Ab7.
- Use 3 for a sharp #, e.g., for F#7 type f37.
- Use / for slash chords with alternate roots, e.g., C7/E (C7 w/E bass). A chord like Gm7b5/Db will display correctly using a Db
instead of a Gm7b5/C#, since Band-in-a-Box bases it on a Gm scale.
- Use a comma to separate the ½ bar, enabling you to enter 2 chords in a cell. In the example below, we would type Ab9,G9 to
get the 2 chords in the cell on beat 3 and 4 of bar 2.

The sequence of keystrokes to enter all these chords above would be: HOME c6>am7>dm7>gb9,g9>c6/e>>a739
Note: We’re able to type A7#9 as “a739” because Band-in-a-Box knows to use the uppercase of the 3, which is #. The > indicates a carriage
return, or the Enter key.
Note: The “Display ‘C9sus’ as ‘C11’” setting in the Display Options dialog (Options | Preferences | [Display]) allows display of ‘9sus’ chords
as ‘11’ (e.g., Bb11 instead of Bb9sus). This only affects how the chord is displayed, not how it is stored, and you can type either C11 or C9sus
to enter the same chord.
Note: The “Display ‘2’ as ‘sus2’” and “Display ‘sus’ as ‘sus4’” settings in the Display Options dialog will show suspended chords more
explicitly: ‘sus’ implies ‘sus4,’ and ‘2’ implies ‘sus2,’ but you might want to see the full extension name.
Right-click on a chord, and a menu allows you to make edits to the chords and other song settings. You can cut, copy, and paste
chords in the Chord Sheet. Use the Chord Builder to try different types of chords or play the current chord to hear how it
sounds. Chord Settings include pushes, rests, shots, holds, and pedal bass.
MicroChords (Multiple Chords per Beat)
The MicroChords feature allows you to enter up to 4 chords per beat. You can select which tracks will play the MicroChords,
allowing some tracks to play fast moving chord progressions and others to play the main chords.
Note: The soloist and background RealTracks do not follow MicroChords by design because playing would be too chopping if they did.
MicroChords are stacked vertically on the Chord Sheet. If there is also a main chord at the same beat, it will display in gray.

You can enter MicroChords on the Chord Sheet with parentheses and commas. Start with an open parenthesis, type chords
separated by commas, and end with a close parenthesis.
For example, typing (C,F) enters two chords for 8th notes, (C,F,G) enters three chords for triplets, and (C,F,G,Am) enters four
chords for 16th notes. If you do not type a chord between commas, it will enter a blank chord. For example, typing (C,F,G,,)
would enter the first and the second chords for 16th notes and the third chord for an 8th note.

You can have both MicroChords and a main chord at the same beat. For example, type D7(A,Fm) to enter D7 as a main chord
and A and Fm as MicroChords.

You can erase all chords (main and/or MicroChords) from the highlighted cell with the Delete key.

Pressing the () and Enter keys will erase just the MicroChords and advance the cell.

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You can change the current main chord and keep the current MicroChords at the beat by typing another main chord. For
example, if you type Gm and press the Enter key, the main chord will be replaced with Gm and the MicroChords will remain.

If you want to change the main chord and erase the MicroChords, type a chord followed by parentheses. For example, type
Gm() to replace the current main chord with Gm and erase the MicroChords.

You can also use a dialog to enter MicroChords. Press the F6 or M Enter to open the Set MicroChords dialog. It has additional
settings including the option to exclude some tracks from playing the MicroChords.

Current Bar: The bar number will display with “*” if there are some MicroChords data in the bar, and “t” if there is a new
“Excluded Tracks” setting.
Disabled for this bar: If this option is checked, none of the MicroChords settings will be played for this bar.
[Update] will update the settings in the dialog. Press this if chords have changed.
Chords: Enter MicroChords on this row. Each beat is divided into four for an even style and three for a swing style.
Rest: A rest will cause the previous chord duration to stop playing, turning the previous chord into a “shot.”
Motif: Enter a checkmark if you want to create a specific rhythmic pattern. You do not need to enter chords as the motif will use
whatever current chord is in the song. This feature allows selected tracks to play specific rhythms without changing the chords.
For example, you might want the guitar and bass to play a specific 16th rhythm in a funk song, while the piano and sax stick
with the normal feel. Suppose you have loaded a funk style and you want a horn section to play a specific rhythm (16th-rest-
rest-16th) in Beat 1 and 3 and just to rest in Beat 2 and 4. So, you check the “Motif” checkbox in the first and fourth slots, and
the “Rest” checkbox in the second and third slots for Beat 1, and then you check the “Rest” checkbox for all slots in Beat 2. You
repeat this patten for Beat 3 and 4. Enable the “Change Excluded Tracks at this bar” option and press the [Set] button to exclude
tracks other than a horn section. If you want to use this rhythm pattern in other bars, use the “Copy Chords” area. Now, when
you play the song, you will hear horns to play hits interspersed with the cool lines that are part of the style itself.
[Set All] applies the divisions of the first beat to all other beats.
Triplets/16ths/Auto: This sets the number of divisions per beat. “Triplet” divides the beat into 3, and 16th divides the beat into
4. If “Auto” is selected, the division is automatically selected by the style loaded.
Force Enabled Beat # is useful if you do not enter any MicroChords in the current beat but still want a beat of silence instead
of the main chord.
[Clear Beat #] clears the data for the corresponding beat.
Set Excluded Tracks: This area allows you to select tracks to be excluded from playing the MicroChords. Enabling the Change
Excluded Tracks at this bar option allows you to select tracks that should be excluded from playing the MicroChords. Press
the [Set] button to select tracks that should be excluded. The excluded tracks will play main chords, instead. The[Clear Bar
(Excluded Tracks)] button clears any excluded-track setting for the current bar, and the [Clear All Bars (Excluded Tracks)]
clears any track-excluded settings for all bars in the song.
Copy MicroChords Now: This area allows you to copy MicroChords and settings to other bars. Enter the destination bar in
Copy to Bar and the total number of bars to be copied in Number of Bars. Set the Pattern Length option to 1 if you want the

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current bar to be copied. If you want a longer section to be copied, enter the number of bars to copied. For example, enter 2 to
copy the current and the next bars. The [Set to Whole Track] button sets the destination to the whole song. The [Copy
MicroChords] button copies the MicroChords and settings in the current bar (or more bars if the Pattern Length is more than 1)
and paste them to the selected bar.
The [Clear Current Bar] button clears all settings from the current bar, and the [Clear All Bars] button clears all settings from
all bars in the song.
[MicroChords to Lyrics] displays the MicroChords, including the Motifs (x) and Rests (r), as Bar Lyrics, which are viewable
on the Chord Sheet when the Bar Lyrics layer is selected with the [Chord Display] toolbar button menu.
[Chord Options] opens the Chord Options dialog.
Chord Options
Chord options include rests, pushes, and pedal bass. The Chord Options dialog opens with the C7 toolbar button, the
Alt+F5 keys, or the right-click contextual menu on the Chord Sheet.

Beat: You can choose the beat location for the chord you are entering.
Chord: If a chord has been entered for this beat, it will appear here. If no chord has been entered, you can type it here.
MicroChords: You can enter up to 4 chords on a beat by typing chords separated by a comma. For example, you could type C,F
for 8th notes, C,F,D or C,,D for triplets, or C,F,G,Am or C,F,,Am for 16th notes. The [MicroChords] button opens the Set
MicroChords dialog, which allows you to exclude some tracks from playing the MicroChords and select other options.
Rests, Shots, Holds: When a “shot” or a “held” chord is assigned, the instruments that are excluded from the shot/held chord
play normally. There is an additional option for those excluded instruments to stay silent. To set this, select a shot or held chord
and enable the “Excluded instrument(s) should rest” option. This option gives you the ability to rest some instruments while
others play the shot or held chord.
Tip: The Song Settings dialog (Ctrl+N) has the options to set the breaks to happen only in the first, middle, or last choruses.
Pushes: “Pushes” (also called anticipations) are chords that are played before the beat. For example, in jazz swing music, the
piano player often “pushes” a chord change by playing the chord an eighth note before the beat.
To use keystrokes, type the caret symbol [^] before the chord. The caret symbol is located above the numeral 6 on your
computer keyboard.
- Type a single caret to get a chord an eighth note before the beat, e.g., ^C7
- Type a double caret to get a chord a sixteenth note before the beat, e.g., ^^C7
In jazz styles (and other triplet feels), the chord will be pushed by a triplet, regardless of whether there is a single or double caret
(^^).
Tip: You can set the amount of velocity boost so that the effect won’t be too loud. In the Preferences dialog (Ctrl+E), click on the [Arrange]
button to open the Arrangement Options dialog. Then type in the amount of velocity boost for pushes, shots, and holds.
Note: The style can override the velocity for the pushes, and drum velocity for shots, held chords, and pushes is also set in the StyleMaker.
Pedal Bass: You can select a pedal bass here. Choose the type of the pedal bass from the pull-down menu and enter the note
you would like the bass to pedal on in the “on” field and the length in the “bars” field.
Support for other chord display types
You can enter or display chords in Roman Numeral notation, Nashville notation, Solfeggio, or Fixed Do notation.
For example, the chord Gm7 in the key of F would be displayed as IIm7 in Roman Numeral Notation, 2m7 in Nashville
Notation, and Rem7 in Solfeggio.
In Italy and other parts of Europe, chords like C7 are always referred to by the Solfeggio name (“Do 7” for C7)
regardless of the key signature. These systems are very useful for learning or analyzing tunes, since they are
independent of the key signature.

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You can take an existing song, and print it out in Roman numeral notation, so you can study the chord progression. You can also
type a chord in these systems, like “4” which will enter the 4 chords in the current key.
Click on the [Chord Display] toolbar button and Choose type of Chord Display from the menu.

The Roman numeral and other nonstandard displays use superscript for the chord display when in the Notation window (or
when printing out). Therefore, the alternative chord symbol displays are best viewed in the Notation window.
Tip: Print out a song in Nashville Notation or Roman numeral notation. Then, learn the song this way, i.e., 1maj7 4maj7 3m7b5 67b9. You will
soon discover that it is much easier to play the song in any key. Since you know the song goes from the 1 chord to the 4 chord, so you can
easily play it in the key of Bb, for example.
There is an option to display the non-standard chord above the standard chord on the Chord Sheet. Press the [Chord Display]
button, go to Layers | Additional Chord Display, and choose from the list of four options.

Tip: The font and the height of the additional chord display can be selected in the Display Options dialog.

Preview Chords
This feature allows you to hear chords as you type them in. After you type a chord name onto the Chord Sheet (or the Notation
window), press the Shift+Enter keys. This enters the chord onto the Chord Sheet and then plays the chord for you, using the
MIDI patches on the Piano and Bass tracks. You can also listen to a chord that has already been entered, by just pressing the
Shift+Enter keys after moving the highlight cell to the bar with the chord you want to hear. If there is no chord entered at a bar,
you will hear the last chord that was entered.
Chord Builder
You can right-click on any chord to instantly hear how it sounds or use the Chord Builder feature to audition different chords
until you find the one that sounds best to you. In other words, you can enter chords “by ear” - without having to know the actual
chord names or any music theory. This feature also illustrates the differences between various chord types.
Launch the Chord Builder with the [Chord Builder] button or the Ctrl+Shift+B keys. You can also launch by right-
clicking on the Chord Sheet and selecting the menu option Chord Builder, or by using the Window | Chord Builder
menu option.
The Chord Builder is designed so it fits entirely above the Chord Sheet. This means that it can be left open as you work
entering chords into Band-in-a-Box. Remember that you can also play chords in from the MIDI keyboard by pressing
Ctrl+Enter after you’ve played a chord.

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You can click on the root of the chord in the “Root” group, the “Extension” (Maj7 etc.), and an alternate “Slash-Note” root. For
example, to make the chord F9/A, you would click on the “F” root, the “9” extension, and the Slash Root of /A. As you click on
them, you will hear the bass note played by the MIDI instrument on the Bass track, and the extension played by the MIDI
instrument on the Piano track. You can change these MIDI patches using Select MIDI Instrument (Patch) in the right-click menu
on the Mixer or the track radio buttons at the top of the screen.
Chord Theory Section
This section displays and suggests chords that are most popular in the current key.
The top row is diatonic chords. Other rows add additional chords that are part of the key, such as dominant 7th approach, slash
chords, parallel minor, diminished, and more. This allows you to quickly enter chords by clicking on the most common chords
in the key. For example, if you stick to the top row (diatonic), the chord progression you enter will be a typical song
progression. Choosing from other rows will add variation and color to the progression. This is a fun, interactive way to enter and
explore chord progressions, and learn music chord theory at the same time.
You can enable the “Jazz” checkbox to show jazz chords (e.g., sevenths like Maj7) instead of pop chords (e.g., triads like C).
The top row has the most common chords in the key of F, which are the diatonic chords.
F Gm Am Bb C Dm Em7b5 (in pop mode)
FMaj7 Gm7 Am7 BbMaj7 C7 Dm7 Em7b5 (in jazz mode)
So, you can just click on chords on this row to enter your chord progression using the most popular chords. Lower rows have
additional chords in the key of F, like G7, A7, etc.
Diatonic: These are the diatonic chords, made up only of notes in the key. They are the most common chords used in the key,
with the 1, 4, and 5 chords being the most common.
Dominant 7: These chords are considered to be in the key when they resolve up a 4th to a scale tone. For example, A7 resolves
to D, which is a scale tone in the key of C.
Slash Chords: The diatonic chords are also commonly used with different chord tones as the bass note. They are called slash
chords, like C/E.
Parallel Minor: For a major key like C, the chords from the Cm key are also used commonly.
Diminished/Half Dim.: The most common diminished chord used is the 1 diminished family [Cdim7, Ebdim7, F#dim7] in the
key of C. Half-diminished chords (e.g., #4m7b5 [F#m7b5] and 7m7b5 [Bm7b5]) are used as 2-5-1 leading to minor diatonic
chords.
All (Common): This row lists all commonly used chords with the root in the key.
Clicking on the small button on each row will list more suggestions.
If you are happy with the sound of the chord, you can press the [Enter Chord] button to enter the chord at the bar and beat
specified. If you want the chord to be inserted automatically when you click on the note/extension names, select the “Enter
chord when clicked” option. This will advance the Bar/Beat position. You can change the Bar/Beat settings to move to a
different bar. The [<] & [>] buttons move 1 beat on a right-click, and 2 beats on a left-click.

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Delete Chords
The chords at the current location of the highlight cell are cleared by the Delete key, the Windows® “Cut” command, or by
typing a comma and pressing Enter.
Deletion of chords over a range of bars can be done by selecting the range and pressing the Delete key on your computer
keyboard. No confirmation dialog is required.
Enter Breaks (Rests, Shots, and Held Chords)
Breaks are points in a song when one or more of the instruments rests, plays a shot, or holds a chord.
- Rests specify any, some, or all instruments to rest at any bar. For example, you could rest all instruments except the bass for
the first 4 bars, and then add the piano for 4 bars, and then add the entire band for the rest of the song. You may optionally
disable the rests in the middle or final choruses (e.g., where you would likely have a solo, and rests may not be appropriate).
- Shots specify certain instruments play a “shot,” where the chord is played and then a rest follows. For example, the song
“Rock Around the Clock” has a shot on beat 1 followed by a rest for 2 bars. The duration of “shots” is 60 ticks per beat.
- Held chords specify that certain instruments hold a chord sustained for a certain number of bars. For example, you can have
the bass and piano hold a chord sustained while the drums continue to play a pattern.
A chord can be specified by adding a period after the chord.
indicates a C chord that is a REST.
indicates a C chord that is a SHOT.
indicates a C chord that is a HELD CHORD.
Selecting BREAKS for different instruments
You can specify that some instruments not to be affected by the rhythm break.
The coded names for the instruments are B for Bass, D for Drums, P for Piano, G for Guitar, and S for Strings.
To type a rest for all instruments on a C chord type C.
To exempt instruments, add their letters following the break. For example, C.bd will put a rest on all instruments EXCEPT the
bass and drums.
To indicate a held chord for all instruments except the piano, type C...p

Breaks can also be set in the Chord Options dialog (Alt+F5).

Tip: You can adjust the velocity of shots and holds. Open the Preferences dialog (Ctrl+E) and press the [Arrange] button to open the
Arrangement Options dialog. Then, type in the amount of velocity boost for shots and holds.
Copy Breaks (Rests/Shots/Holds)
With the menu selection Edit | Copy Special | Copy Breaks (Rests/Shots/Holds) you can copy the attributes (rests/shots/holds) of
a chord over a range of other chords.

Copy Breaks by Shortcuts

Shortcuts are available for entering breaks (rest/shot/hold) over a range of bars.
- Type h4 on a chord, and this will copy the break on the first beat of the cell for 4 bars.
- Type ,h4 on a chord, and this will copy the break on the second beat of the cell for 4 bars.
- Type h on a chord, and this will copy the break until the next part marker.
- Type a chord with a break followed by a number (N), and this will copy the break for the next N bars.
e.g. C7...4 will enter held chords for 4 bars.
Gm7...bd5 will enter held chords (bd=except bass and drums) for 5 bars.

112 Chapter 6: Making Songs

Erase Chords From.. To..
To erase bars with additional control for erasing the Melody, Soloist, and/or Lyrics, choose Edit | Erase From.. To.. to launch
the Erase Chords and/or melody dialog.
With this dialog, you have complete control over erasing a number of bars
of chords and/or the Melody, Soloist, and Lyrics. If you’re erasing the
Melody, Soloist, or Lyrics you need to specify which chorus you wish to
erase.

Insert/Delete Bars
Choose Edit | Insert Bars, and the program will ask you to type in the number of bars you wish to insert. You can also use
hotkeys to insert N bars at the current location. For example, I N 4 Enter would insert 4 bars at the current location, and I N 8
Enter would insert 8 bars.
Choose Edit | Delete Bars, and the program will ask you to type in the number of bars you wish to delete.
Copy and Paste a Section of Chords
Copying a section of chords is done in the same manner as copying text in a Windows® word processor (read on if you are
unfamiliar with how this is done). There are also similar “keyboard shortcuts” for these operations as listed in Keystroke
Commands – Hotkeys section of this guide.
Copying Chords to the Windows® Clipboard
Select the region to copy. Place the mouse cursor at the bar to begin the selection. Then, holding down the left mouse button,
drag the mouse over the region. As you do this you will see that the region will be inverted (i.e., looks dark). When you have
selected the desired region of chords to copy, release the mouse button.
Copy the selected region to the clipboard. Click Ctrl+C or choose Copy from the Edit menu.
Pasting Chords from the Windows® Clipboard
Assuming you have already copied some chords to the clipboard (see previous topic), you are then ready to paste the copied
chords into another part of your Chord Sheet.
Move the highlight cell to the bar to begin the paste of chords.
Press Ctrl+V or choose Paste from the Edit menu.
Tip: The copied section remains in the clipboard and can be used repeatedly. Example: If you’re inputting a song with verse, verse, bridge,
verse, you can simply copy the first verse to the clipboard, and then repeatedly paste-in the other verses. The clipboard contents remain intact
even if you load in a new song, so you can copy and paste between songs.

Copy and Paste Section of Chords by Drag-and-Drop

Copying of sections or selections can be done using drag-and-drop, to drag regions around the Chord Sheet to quickly
rearrange your song. Hold down the Ctrl key for finer control about insert/overwrite etc.
For example, if you have an 8-bar section at bar 9:
- To copy it to bar 23 and insert the 8 bars at that location, drag the bar number and drop it at bar 23.
- To copy it to bar 23 and overwrite the 8 bars at that location, hold down the Ctrl key and drag the bar number and drop it at
bar 23. In the dialog that appears, just press OK.
Copy Chords and/or Melody
Another way to copy chords is to launch the Copy Chords and/or melody dialog by pressing Alt+C.
Tip: Typing K K keys opens this dialog. Typing K K followed by two numbers separated by a comma opens the dialog with presets. For
example, hitting K K 4 , 1 Enter at bar 9 opens the dialog with presets to copy 4 bars from bar 1 and paste them to bar 9.
This allows you to copy chords, melody, soloist and/or lyrics for a range of bars by entering the “From” and “To” locations and
the number of bars to copy. Select the checkboxes for the items you want to include in the copy.

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 Insert Bars at destination: If you enable this, prior
to the copy, bars will be inserted the destination.
# of times to repeat copy: If you set this to more than
one, multiple copies will be made, optionally with
transpositions on each copy. These are all applied to
the first chorus only.
With each copy, transpose ___ semitones: If more
than one copy is selected, this will transpose the song
with each copy. This is most useful when wanting to
learn a short phrase (“riff”) in different keys or
modulating a section of a song.
Random # of semitones: This will transpose the copy a random transposition and would be useful for advanced students who
are trying to master a riff or phrase in all keys.
Copy 1st Chorus to whole song: If you enable this, this will apply any of the copying commands in this dialog to all choruses
of the song, not just chorus #1.
The [Close] button does not copy chords and/or melody but preserves the current settings in the dialog.
”K” Quick Copy Method
By simply typing K at a bar followed by the Enter key, you can instantly copy the last 8 bars to the current position. By adding
additional keys in the K command, you can customize this shortcut. For example, typing K 1 2 , 3 Enter would copy from bar 3
for 12 bars to current position. The current position is advanced to the bar beyond the copy. This speeds up song entry!
For example, if you’re entering a song that has a repeating section of chords for 8 bars, type in the first 8 bars of chords, and
then move to bar 9 and then type: K Enter. The last 8 bars will be copied to bar 9-16, and the cursor will be moved to bar 17, so
you’re ready to continue with the tune. If you get to bar 25 and want the chords from 1-8 to be copied to 25-32, type K , 1 Enter
and this will copy 8 bars from bar 1 to bar 25.
The chords always get copied. The Melody, Soloist, and Lyrics also get copied if these items are set in the Copy Chords and/or
melody dialog (Alt+C).
Copy and Paste Chords as Simple Text
Copy from a Band-in-a-Box song
Chords can be copied as a simple text format and be pasted into another song in Band-in-a-Box or a text file in a program like
Notepad.
Select the chords on the Chord Sheet, and press the standard Ctrl+C keys to copy them. You can then press Ctrl+V in another
song or a text file to paste them.

Note: If chords are not selected on the Chord Sheet, Ctrl+C copies the whole song including all chords and additional information (title, key,
tempo, form, memo, etc.) to the clipboard. You can paste this into a text file with the Ctrl+V keys, but if you want to paste it into another song,
you need to press Ctrl+Shift+V or go to menu Edit | Paste Special - from Clipboard text to Song(s).
By default, part markers as well as rests, shots, holds, and pushes are included in text, but you can change this with the options
in the Song(s) to Text (Clipboard or .txt File) dialog. This dialog also allows you to select the items that will be included when
you copy the whole song. Using this dialog, you can also copy all songs in a specific folder to the clipboard or save them as text
file(s). The dialog can be accessed with the Edit | Copy Special | Copy Song(s) to Text on Clipboard or File(s) menu item.

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Copy text to the clipboard with the regular Edit Copy (Ctrl-C) command: This has to be enabled in order to copy chords
with the standard Ctrl+C keys.
Include song metadata: This option applies when you copy the whole song. If this is checked, the song metadata (title, key,
tempo, form, style, etc.) will be included.
Include memo: This option also applies when you copy the whole song.
Include part markers: By default, part markers are copied, but you choose not to copy them.
Include holds, pushes, shots: By default, rests, shots, holds, and pushes entered in chords are copied, but if you don’t want
them, uncheck this option.
Use % for repeated chords bar: If this is enabled, a % sign will be used for a blank bar.
Add a space character to begin each bar: If this is enabled, a space will be added at the beginning of each bar.
Start a new line for new section (part marker): If this is enabled, every section (part marker) will start a new line.
Bars per line: You can set the number of bars of chords to write per line.
Use tab instead of | for bar line: With this option, text can be pasted into a spreadsheet with columns for each bar.
Use / for every empty beat: This will write a slash for an empty beat. For example, you will see | C / / / | instead of | C |.
Show bar numbers each bar: If this is enabled, a bar number will be included.
Lyrics: This allows you to include the lyrics as a [Lyrics] section.
Whole song: If you select this mode, you can press [OK - Copy to Clipboard] to copy the whole song (chords and additional
information selected) or [Save as .txt File] to save it as a text file.
Range of song: If you select this mode, you can press [OK - Copy to Clipboard] to copy the chords in the selected range or
[Save as .txt file] to save them as a text file.
Batch save all songs in this folder: With this mode, you can copy or save all songs in a specific folder. Press the folder icon to
select the folder, and choose the option to include subfolders of that folder. Also select the destination with the Batch Save As
option. You can copy all songs to the clipboard, save them as individual text files in the same folder, save them as individual
text files in another folder, or save them as a single text file. Then, press [OK - Batch Save TXT] to copy or save the songs.
The [Defaults] button resets all options to default settings.
The [Close] button closes the dialog, saving the settings but not copying anything.
Copy from a text file
You can copy chords in a text file and paste them into a Band-in-a-Box song. Type chords in a text file using a vertical line for a
bar line. If you want a blank bar, leave a space or type a % sign between vertical lines. For example, you can type | D | G7 | | F |
or | D | G7 | % | F |. You can use shortcuts and non-standard chord display (e.g., | 1j | 2h | 53 |). To add breaks (rests/shots/holds),
type period(s) after the chord. To add pushes, enter caret(s) before the chord. If you want a part marker, type a or b and a
parenthesis after a vertical line. You can type as many bars as you like on each line.

You can even enter a whole song in a text file. The easiest way is to use the text file that you pasted the whole song into. Some
of the information pasted into that text file cannot be pasted back into Band-in-a-Box because they are not applicable for a new
song. For example, “Song Summary” is no applicable because this is automatically generated in the song and cannot be edited
by a user. However, it will not cause problems if you leave them in the text file. You can include a title, a key, a tempo, a form,
a style file name, and a memo.

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When you are ready, press Ctrl+A to select all and Ctrl+C to copy. Then, in Band-in-a-Box, press Ctrl+Shift+V or go to menu
Edit | Paste Special - from Clipboard Text to Song(s). This will open the Paste Text to Song(s) dialog.

Song(s) Found in Paste: If you created multiple songs in the text file, you can select the song to paste.
Items to include in the paste: Check the items you want to include in the paste.
Paste as new song: This mode will paste all the chords in the selected song into a new song
Paste into current song: This mode will paste into the selected bar in the current song. You can select either the Whole song
option to paste all chords in the song or the Range option to paste the chords in the selected range of the song.
Save as SGU song(s): This mode will save the selected song or all songs on the clipboard as new song(s). To save the selected
song as a new song, select the Selected song option. Then, press OK, select a folder, and type a file name. To save all songs as
new songs, select the All songs in clipboard option, press OK, and select a folder.
Reduce/Expand Chord Durations
Edit | Song Form | Reduce (durations of chords by 1/2) cuts chord durations by 50% (e.g., 4beats>>2beats, 2beats>>1beat, etc.).
Edit | Song Form | Expand (durations of chords by 2) doubles the durations of chords (e.g., 1beat>>2beats, 2beats>>4beats,
etc.).
Search and Replace Chords
The Edit | Chords | Search/Replace Chords feature will search and replace chords, including support for asterisks (*) as
wildcards. Search and Replace can be used with Roman numerals or numbers for chord names. So, you can replace the V chord
with V7, or the 5m chord to 5m7. Since these are remembered between songs, this feature is useful if you are changing multiple
songs.
The [Simpler Jazz] option will simplify chords like C13#11#5 to simply C9.

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Auto Generate (or Remove) Intro Bars
To generate an intro, press the [Song Form] toolbar button and select Generate Intro from the pulldown menu. You can
also go to the menu Edit | Song Form | Generate Chords for Intro. The Generate Chords for Intro dialog will then open.

With a single press of a button, you can auto-generate a 2-, 4-, or 8-bar intro for any song. The chords will be different each
time, and you can keep trying as often as you like until you get the progression that you want. The intro generated will be an
intelligent chord progression (i.e., appropriate for an intro) in the chosen style of music (Jazz/Pop). It can have optional pedal
bass and will “lead” correctly to the first chord of the song. There is also an option to have the intro be played by the whole
band, a specific track, or any combination of tracks.
The duration of the intro can be set to 2, 4, or 8 bars. You can also get a pedal bass figure inserted throughout the intro. Press the
[Remove Intro] button to delete any intro present in your song.
’Jazz Up’ the Chords
The Edit | Chords | ‘Jazz Up’ Chords menu command will “Jazz Up” the chords by changing chords like C and Cmaj to 7th and
6th chords. Song embellishment will be turned on for the song. Select the type of 7ths from the list box, and then click on the
[OK – Jazz UP] button.
’Jazz Down’ the Chords
The Edit | Chords | ‘Jazz Down’ the chords menu command “Jazz Down” the chords by changing chords with 7ths (e.g., C7) to
triads (e.g., C) and 9ths and 13ths to 7th chords. Song embellishment is turned off. Press [OK - Jazz Down] to proceed.
Chord Substitution
Reharmonizing a song with the Chord Substitution Wizard is a fun and educational way to perform or practice a familiar song in
a brand-new way. For example, if you had chords such as “Dm7 G7 Cmaj7,” a list of substitutions including the tritone
substitution “Dm7 Db7b5 Cmaj7” would be offered to you for use in your song.
There are 2 ways to get chord substitutions.
1. Let Band-in-a-Box show you a list of possible substitutions to pick from yourself by accessing Edit | Chords | Chord
Substitution (Choose your own) menu item.
2. Let Band-in-a-Box pick them automatically by accessing Edit | Chords | Chord Substitution (Auto-Generate) menu item.
Manual Chord Substitution
This dialog depends on what chords were present at the bar that was currently highlighted. This bar number is shown in the
dialog and may be changed.

Jazz substitutions / Pop/Country substitutions: You can

control what types of substitutions to see by using these
checkboxes. Some substitutions include more chords than the
original, and some simplify the progression, and these can be
viewed using the checkboxes. You can elect to exclude
substitutions that have a chord on each beat.
Types of substitutions to include: This combo box will filter
the substitutions to include only the best substitutions or all of
them.
The [Recompile] button is only used if you have edited the
chordsub.txt file to add your own substitutions. This
recompiles the file and takes about 1 to 2 minutes.

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Press the [OK - Do Substitution Now] button once you see a substitution that you like so that you can enter it onto the
worksheet directly. Double-clicking on the substitution line will also accomplish the same. You can then move the current bar to
the next part of the song that you need a substitution for and repeat the process.
You can undo the substitution by pressing the [Restore] button. You can undo all substitutions by pressing the [Restore All]
button.
Auto Chord Substitutions
You can quickly auto-generate substitutions for an entire song, or portion of a song using the auto-substitution dialog, which is
accessed with the menu command Edit | Chords | Chord Substitution (Auto-Generate).
For example, we can generate substitutions for the !Freddie.MGU song. Here is the original chord progression.

By using the auto-substitution dialog, we can generate substitutions for the whole song, and we get this result:

You can see that Band-in-a-Box chose the substitutions for about 70% of the chords in the song (that’s what we told it to do in
the dialog). It began by replacing the F6 chord with an Fmaj7 Gm7 Abdim Am7 progression. Some of the substitutions chosen
are even more advanced than that (replacing two bars of Bbmaj7 with Bb6 Ebmaj7 Dm7 Gm7 | Bbmaj7 Cm7 Dbdim Dm7 for
example).
Here are the settings in the auto-substitution dialog that produced this result:
If you’d like Band-in-a-Box to only generate chords for a certain
range of bars, you should highlight that range of bars in the Chord
Sheet first, and then launch the dialog. The range will then be set
to “Part of song” and the “Bar” and “# of bars” settings will also
be set. You can override these settings with manual settings, if
necessary.

Generate Chords for a Melody

Generate chords for a melody, or an improved chord progression for a melody, with the “Reharmonist” feature. This feature
generates a chord progression in the chosen genre, based only on the melody.
The idea of the Reharmonist is to generate a completely new chord progression for a melody, in a genre that you choose (Jazz,
Country, etc.). This ignores any existing chords in the song.
There are 2 separate windows for the Reharmonist feature.
1. Reharmonize entire song with a new chord progression.
- or -
2. See a list of possible reharmonizations for a given area of a song.
Generate a New Progression
To generate an entirely new chord progression for a complete song or a portion of a song, go to menu Edit | Chords | Chord
Reharmonization (Auto-Generate). You will then see the Select Reharmonist dialog.

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 The first thing you should do is set the Genre for the
reharmonization. For example, if you want “Jazz Swing”
genre, choose that in the genre drop down. You will then get
typical jazz chords.
Verify that the Key is correct. Band-in-a-Box analyzes the
melody and gives its best guess as to the best key for the song.
If it is different from the current key, Band-in-a-Box will
suggest the new key, and you can press the button to set the
key to the new key.
Set the region of the song that you want reharmonized. Usually, this will be the “Whole song.”
Press [OK - Reharmonize]. You will now get a brand-new chord progression for the melody.
See a List of Possible Reharmonizations
Use the feature interactively by displaying a menu of possible chord progressions for a portion of the melody and audition them
to choose the best one using the “Bar Reharmonist.” This allows you to hear some new chord progressions for existing melodies,
or brand-new progressions for tunes without chords.
To do this, choose Edit | Chords | Chord Reharmonization (Choose your own). This shows you the current bar in the song (for
example, bar 7). It shows a list of suggested chord progressions for the current melody, based on the melody and genre that you
choose.

The progressions are sorted in alphabetical order, or from “best to worst” depending on the setting.
Choose a chord progression, and press [Do-Reharmonize NOW] and the program will insert that progression.
Rearrange Chords - Song Form Maker
The Song Form Maker allows you to define sections of a song (A, B, C etc.), and then rearrange the song by simply typing the
form you want (e.g., AABABAACA). You can revisit the dialog to change the form at any time.
Press the [Song Form] button and select Song Form Dialog from the menu. You will then see the Song Form Maker
dialog.

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Then define your sections (e.g., A = bars 1 for 8 bars, B=start at bar 17, for 8 bars C=start at bar 25, for 4 bars). Then type the
form that you want (AABACABA).
Select [OK - Generate Form] then exit the dialog. The form string and sections are saved with the song.
You can revisit this dialog to re-order the sections. Or change a chord in the “A” section of the Chord Sheet, and then use the
Song Form Maker to propagate the changes through all of the “A” sections.
Use the [Undo] button to reverse your changes.
Uses for the Song Form Maker
- Enter a song by simply entering each section once, and then visit the Song Form Maker, typing the form that you want and
generating it. Change the form without having to type in new chords, just redo the Form String (“AABACABA etc.)
- Change chords in each section by simply changing the chord in the main section, and then regenerate the form.
- Enter a melody once and copy it throughout the form by regenerating the form.
Part Markers and Substyles
Part Markers
Part Markers are placed on the Chord Sheet to indicate a new part of the song, to insert a substyle change, or
to insert drum fills. They typically occur every 8 bars or so but may be placed at the beginning of any bar.
There is always a part marker at bar 1 so that Band-in-a-Box knows which substyle to begin with. The song continues to play in
one substyle until it encounters a new part marker. The substyle will change automatically on second choruses when the “Vary
Style in Middle Choruses” setting is selected in the Song Settings dialog.

You can customize the display of the part markers in the Display Options dialog. For example, you can pick a color for each
part marker, draw part marker borders, show each part marker on the new line, etc.
MultiStyles
Band-in-a-Box MultiStyles are styles that can have up to 24 substyles; original Band-in-a-Box styles had two substyles, “a” and
“b.” Band-in-a-Box MultiStyles typically have four substyles, but may have up to twenty-four, selected by using part markers
“a” through “x.”
- Substyle “a” is usually used for the verse of a song.
- Substyle “b” is usually used for the “b-section” or the chorus, and for soloing in the middle choruses.
- Substyle “c” is usually used for the intro or for an opening verse or pre-verse.
- Substyle “d” is usually used for a break or interlude.
You can easily make your own MultiStyles, either from scratch, or combining parts from existing styles to make a MultiStyle.
For example, if you have 10 favorite Country styles, you can quickly make a single MultiStyle that has 20 substyles available
within the same song.

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You can store names for MultiStyle substyles with a description of each one.

The MultiStyle names are set in the StyleMaker Miscellaneous dialog. If the style is a MultiStyle, you can right-
click on a bar number to see them.

Placing Part Markers

Move the highlight cell to the bar where you want to place the part market. Then press the P key on the computer keyboard.
Repeatedly pressing P scrolls through all available part markers.
Position the mouse cursor directly over the bar line (or an existing part marker). Then, click the left mouse button. Repeat this
procedure to scroll through the available options.
To remove a part marker, keep pressing P or clicking the mouse until you reach the end of the available part markers and there
is no marker on the bar number.
Copying Part Markers
You can drag a part marker to copy it to other bars.

Placing Drum Fills

A one bar drum fill will occur in the bar preceding a part marker. If you want a drum fill at bar 7 of a song, you insert a part
marker on the bar after the bar with the drum fill (i.e., Bar 8). You can either retain the original substyle or change the substyle
(a, b, c, d, etc.) when you place the part marker.

You can get no drum fill on the bar before a part marker, or you can get a drum fill at any bar without needing a part marker.
This is controlled in the Edit Settings for Current Bar dialog (F5). When the “Drum Fill” option is checked, you’ll get a drum
fill at the current bar. If you are at a bar before a part marker and you don’t want a drum fill, then disable this option.
Section Paragraphs
When you’re reading a book, a new section begins on a new line, with space between. Band-in-a-Box does that for chords too.
Whenever a new section occurs (a part marker), we start the new section on a new line and draw a grey line above to clearly
mark the new section. You will see each section on a new line so that the form of the song is easier to see.
For example, if you have a song with a 7-bar section, followed by 8-bar sections, earlier versions of Band-in-a-Box wouldn’t
start the other sections on a new line. The result was that it was hard to delineate the sections, as if an entire story was told
within one paragraph.

With the Section Paragraphs feature, you will see each section on a new line so that the form of the lead sheet is easier to see.
Sections can be as short as 2 bars.

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The feature is configurable and optional with the “New line for every section” setting in the Display Options dialog (Options |
Preferences [Display] button). You can also set the minimum number of bars that is required to start a new line with the
“minimum section” setting. For example, if this is set to 8, then there won’t be a new line for the next part marker if that section
has only 4 bars.

Applying Styles
There are many styles available for use with the Band-in-a-Box program. Styles refer to styles of music like Jazz Swing, Latin,
Blues, Pop, Rock, or Country. You can pick a musical style either before or after you have entered the chords to a song. Once a
style is loaded, the song will be played back using your chosen style. All style files have the .STY extension.
In the Chord Sheet or the Notation window you can quick-load a style by typing only “style” followed by a style name. For
example, S T Y L E Z Z B O S S A Enter will load zzbossa.sty.
Help for “Style Not Found”
If a style is not found when loading it, you will be given an option to open the StylePicker showing compatible styles that you
do have. Also, it shows information about the missing style like instrumentation, genre, and audio demo so you get an idea of
what replacement you need. For example, you have a song that needs the style _OMENS+.STY but you don’t have that style. If
Band-in-a-Box knows about that style, you will get a message telling you that the style is not found but you can browse similar
styles in the StylePicker. If you answer “Yes,” the StylePicker will launch.

It shows you a lot of information about the style that you don’t have, such as genre (Hip Hop), time signature (4/4), feel (even
16), tempo (70), and the Styles Disk that it comes from (MultiStyles 1).
Double-clicking on the style will play a pre-made demo so you can hear what the style should sound like if you have it.
The StylePicker shows you styles that you do have that would be good substitutes. For example, the first one is “+Spit It Trap
Beat with Piano,” which is a Hip Hop style with the same tempo, feel and time signature. So, you can try out these other hip hop
styles to find the best substitute for the missing style.
If you highlight the missing style “_OMENS+,” in the mixer area you will see a list of the RealTracks and RealDrums used.
This is useful as you may have many of the RealTracks and can use this to add them to the style that you do choose.

Load Previous Style / Load Next Style

This function, analogous to the Load Next Song function, loads in the previous (or next) style in alphabetical order of the file
name. These functions are found in the Styles menu or use the hotkeys Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F8 for the previous style and
Alt+Shift+F8 for the next style.
Tip: You can also use the following hotkeys: S 7 Enter to load the previous style and S 8 Enter to load the next style.

Current Style Window

The name of the current style is shown in the window below the song title.

There is a convenient “Load Song Demo” option for style demos. Click on the name of the style on the main screen, and the
menu that displays will include the option to “Load Song Demo” for the current style.

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 This menu also offers options for choosing a style for your song. Change
style at any bar inserts a style change at the currently highlighted bar on
the Chord Sheet. Open Style from disk is for selecting styles from file
folders. Choose Favorite Style opens either a list of pre-selected favorites,
or a list of recently played styles. Browse styles with info opens the
StylePicker window, which has full style information.

Open Style with the [Style] Button

You can open a style using the [Style] button. This is a split button, with the top half being the default function and the
bottom half listing different methods to load a style and allows you to set the default.

StylePicker Window
The StylePicker window is opened by pressing the [Style] button or the Ctrl+F9 keys. It lists all of the styles that are
present in the C:\bb\Styles folder. The StylePicker window has a great filter feature for finding a perfect style for your
song by selecting elements such as time signature, feel, or tempo, or by simply typing in a familiar song title.
Tip: You can quickly launch the window with the S Enter or S 1 Enter keys.
Rebuild StylePicker and Confirm RealTracks and RealDrums Folder Locations Dialog
If the style list needs rebuild when you open this window, a dialog will open to confirm and set the correct locations of your
RealTracks and RealDrums folders. In the dialog, you can see the current locations (e.g., C:\bb\RealTracks and C:\bb\Drums)
and the number of RealTracks and RealDrums present in these locations. This allows you to confirm that you are using the
correct locations as you see the expected numbers of RealTracks and RealDrums found in the folders.

Note: The dialog is also accessible with the [Set RT/RD Folders]
button in the Track Settings and Actions dialog (F7).

A progress bar will show at the top of the StylePicker during style rebuild.

After you have rebuilt the style list, you can browse styles by sorting columns or hear an “instant” preview of the style by
double-clicking on the list. If style has both MIDI and RealDrums available, you can hear both, and choose which one you want.
This makes it much faster to find the style that fits your song.

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The styles list can be easily sorted by clicking on a column name. Clicking again will reverse the order. You can also resize the
column width by dragging a column border.
Note: In order to toggle the sort between the forward and reverse order, you need to enable “Sort columns in forward and reverse order” in the
StylePicker Options dialog.
Each column provides following information for the style.
- Name: This column shows the file name of the style.
- Type: This column tells you whether the style has RealTracks only (“R”), MIDI only (“M”), or a combination of RealTracks
& MIDI (“RM”)
- TSig: This column shows a time signature (4/4, 3/4, etc.) of the style.
- EvSw: The “ev” or “sw” indicates whether the style plays in an even feel or a swing feel.
- Tempo: The tempo shown here is the tempo set in the style.
- Long Name: This column shows the full name of the style.
- Genre: This column shows the genre of the style.
- Group: The styles are grouped into three groups: Pop, Jazz, and Country.
- Date: This column shows the date when the style was made.
- Set #: In this column, you can see which set includes the style.
- # Instr: This column shows the number of instruments that are present in the style.
- # Substyles: A style can contain as many as 24 substyles.
- Other Genres: This column suggests additional genres of the style.
Quick Filter

You can easily find a style using the text filter. For example, if you want to find punk styles, simply type “punk” and the list will
be filtered to show punk styles. If there is a RealTracks musician that you want to check out, just type in his name, and the list
will show styles with that musician in them.
You can also use the arrow button to select a category, time signature, feel, etc., and you will immediately see the filtered list.
- Category: This lets you filter styles by a genre or category.
- TimeSig: This allows you to filter styles by the time signature.
- Feel: This sorts the list by feel (even 8th, swing 8th, even 16th or swing 16th).
- Tempo: This sorts the list by the tempo.

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- Type: With this button, you can choose to display Real and/or MIDI styles. The default is to display Real styles first and MIDI
styles at the bottom, but you can change the default selection with the last menu item.
- Other: This is a miscellaneous filter. For example, the list can be filtered to show only your favorite styles, styles that use a
specific RealTrack, styles with soloists, or styles in a specific Xtra Styles set.
If Include Similar is unchecked, then the filtered list will show the exact match only, but if this option is checked, then the list
will show the exact match and the similar styles. The [Clear Filter] button will clear any filter so all styles will display.
Style Suggestion
In the Type in a familiar song title field, type in a familiar song title, artist name, or genre of music, and the StylePicker will
filter the list by the genre, feel, tempo, and time signature of that song title.
Let’s find a style that is similar to the song “Amazing Grace.” Type in “amazing,” click on a song to select it, and press [Enter].
This is an even 8th folk song with 3/4 time signature, and the list will be filtered to show styles that match these elements. You
can see what filters are in place when you look at the “Style Filter by:” area.

Instant Preview of Styles

You can audition a style without changing your existing arrangement, by using the preview control.

It has Play and Stop buttons, a progress bar, a Loop button and a file button.
Also, when the control is playing, if there are 2 files that can be played, a toggle button displays. This appears for previewing
MIDI styles, because there are MIDI drums and RealDrums available for most MIDI styles, and now you can easily hear both.
To hear a preview, simply double-click on a style name in the list. Or highlight a style and press the green arrow button.
The demos are pre-made, so they play instantly. And they are a good idea of what the style is supposed to sound like.
The style demos are found in 2 possible places:
1. On your hard drive, in the Data\Style Demos Audio folder of your RealTracks folder, usually C:\bb\RealTracks\Data\Style
Demos Audio (some of the demos are included on disk, but to save space not all of them are included).
2. On the Internet, at www.pgmusic.com (all of the demos are there).
When you demo a style, the program will play the version on disk if available; otherwise, it will play from the Internet.
The style demos sometimes play files from the internet. You can download a file that is being played from the internet by
clicking on the folder button. If the file is being played on your hard drive, this button will show the file in a folder.
The speaker button allows you to control the volume of demos.
Play Your Song with the Styles
You can also audition a style by actually playing it over the current chord progression of your song.

The [Play] button will generate arrangement for your song with the currently highlighted style. The [Stop] button will stop
playback. By default, double-clicking on a style plays a pre-made audio demo, but it can be set to play the Chord Sheet chords
instead. Press the [Action] button, select Set Dialog Options, and enable the “Double click on style plays Chord Sheet instead of
pre-made demo” in the options dialog.
You can speed up the generation if you enable the 4-bar preview option, which will play only for the first 4 bars. The number
of bars for preview is settable to 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28 or 32. This can be done by pressing the [Action] button and selecting
Set Dialog Options, and select a number for the “# of preview” option.
The ideal tempo for the style is shown here but you can change it to any tempo by typing in the number or clicking on the [+]
and [-] buttons. You can even change it during playback.
The [Load Song Demo] button will open the pre-made demo song for the currently selected style.
Rebuild of Styles List

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Press the [Rebuild] button and select [Fast] Rebuild of PG Music styles only after you install new styles from PG Music. It
takes about 30 seconds to rebuild the list. The [Slow] Rebuild of PG Music and 3rd party styles menu item will find not only PG
Music styles but also new or changed user or third-party styles. It takes longer to rebuild the list.
Customization
The mixer-like control shows what tracks and instruments are used in the currently selected style in the list, and color-codes
them according to the track types (MIDI, MIDI SuperTracks, or RealTracks).

For each track, there is a menu button, which allows you to change the instrument, disable/enable the track, or perform other
track actions.
When the track is customized, an asterisk will be added to the name.
When the Custom option is checked, the tracks of the currently selected style will be overridden with the choices you have
made.
The [Clear] button will clear any customized settings.
Press the [Save as .STY] button to save the style that you have customized. When you save the style, it will be added to the
StylePicker list.
Memo
This area shows additional information about the style. You can see instruments, artists, a brief description, and song examples
currently selected style. If the style has Loops or UserTracks, you will see the names of the Loops or UserTracks.

Action
Clicking on the [Action] button shows you a menu with options to select/create User Category, add the current style to the User
Category, set styles as a favorite, etc. These options are also available when you right-click on the list.

Mark as Prototype, and sort by Similar Styles to: This menu item will sort and filter the list by best to worst match of the
prototype’s tempo, feel, genre, time signature, and more. Once you do this, the sort status indicator will tell you that the sort is
by prototype. For example, if you choose _BUBLPOP as the prototype style, the list will be sorted with styles most similar to
_BUBLPOP. These are the styles with a similar genre, feel, tempo, and time signature. The prototype always shows in the list,
even with a filter applied.
Select/Create User Category: Unlimited User Categories can be created by users or third parties, to list their styles in the
StylePicker. To select an existing User Category, choose Select/Create User Category. When the dialog opens, select a category
and press the [OK] button. To make your own User Category, right-click on the list, choose Select/Create User Category, and

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when the Choose User Category to display in StylePicker dialog opens, press the [Create New Category] button. Then, type
a name for your category and click on the [Save] button. You can also enter a memo for your category.
Technical notes: User Categories are stored as .txt files, which just contain the list of style names. The User Categories must reside in
C:\bb\Data\StylePicker\User Categories folder. You can re-arrange this folder by creating subfolders and moving the categories around to
organize them. You can also directly edit the .txt file in this folder. If you have made any changes to this folder, remember to press the
[Refresh] button.
User Categories are analogous to playlists in a song player. You can create/edit them and choose to display only the styles from
the category or all styles with the category styles highlighted with a * asterisk.
Add Style to Current User Category: This menu item adds the currently selected style to the current User Category.
Save Current Style list as a User Category: This menu item allows you to create a new User Category and add all the styles
currently displaying in the list to the new category. To display only the styles from the current User Category, click on the
[Category] button above the list and select Show this User Category. If you want to see only the styles from another User
Category, select Choose and Show User Category and choose a User Category from the list. You will then see styles from the
selected User Category.
Set Style as Favorite: This menu command will set the selected style as a favorite. If the style is already a favorite, you can
select the Remove style as a Favorite menu item.
Copy List to Clipboard: This menu item saves the current list with all information to a tab-delimited .txt file and opens it in
Notepad. In Notepad copy all and paste it into a spreadsheet such as an Excel file. You can then apply a hierarchical sorting of
the list.
Reset Dialog to Defaults: This menu item resets the dialog to default settings.
Set Dialog Options: This menu item opens the StylePicker Options dialog with additional options for the StylePicker.

Preferred listing of styles: This controls the default type of listing of styles (Real and/or MIDI).
Default display should include all styles (available and N/A not available): If this option is enabled, you will see all styles
including N/A ones even when all filters are cleared.
Show current style in list even if it doesn’t match the filter: This setting lets you choose to always show the current style
even if it doesn’t match the filter.
Sort Columns in forward and reverse order: If this option is enabled, clicking on a column name again will sort the list in
reverse order.
Always change tempo to best tempo for style whenever a style is loaded: If this option is checked, pressing the [OK] button
in the StylePicker will always change the current tempo to the ideal tempo for the selected style. Note: If the song is “blank” (no
chords past bar 5), then the tempo will change, but if the song has chords in more than 5 bars, then the tempo will not change
unless this option is enabled.
Change 4-bar preview tempo to best tempo for style: If this is checked, then when you preview the song, it will be played at
the ideal tempo for the style.
Use Internet for style audition demos (if not found on disk): Enable this option so demos will play files from pgmusic.com
using the Internet if demos are not found on disk.
Double click on style plays Chord Sheet chords (instead of pre-made demo): By default, when you double-click on a style in
the StylePicker a pre-made audio demo will play, but if you check this option, double-clicking plays your song.
Play a preview (portion) when auditioning: This limits audition of your song to the first few bars.
# of bars for preview: You can select the number of bars to play for a preview.
Font Size: This allows you change the font size of the styles list.
[Defaults] sets all options to default settings.

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Remix Full Vocal Songs
Band-in-a-Box has over 50 original songs (Pop, R&B, and Modern Country) with high-quality, great sounding vocals,
harmonies and Band-in-a-Box arrangements.
They are included in Artist Performance sets 11 and 12.
C:\bb\Songs and Lessons\Artist Performance Sets\Artist Performance Set 11 - Songs with Vocals volume 1
C:\bb\Songs and Lessons\Artist Performance Sets\Artist Performance Set 12 - Songs with Vocals volume 2
Use these to remix new arrangements, starting from these high-quality, great sounding tracks!
To hear audio demos, press the [Other] filter button in the StylePicker, and select Styles that have .wma full song demos, with
vocals from the drop-down menu. Or, press the [Category] filter button, select Choose and Show User Category from the drop-
down menu, and select “PGMusic\Style Demos with Vocals\All Style Demos with Vocals” from the list. This will list styles that
have full vocal audio songs. You can then click on a style in the list to listen to a demo.

Song Title Browser

The popular Title feature, which allows you to type in the name of a familiar song and find a style with similar feel and tempo,
has been enhanced with a dedicated Song Titles Browser window. This window allows you to browse and filter the huge list of
over 21,000 popular song titles. You can, for example, filter by a certain artist, and then sort all the songs by tempo, key, feel,
time signature, and more.
You can open this window by several ways.
- Press the [Find Titles] button in the StylePicker window.
- Click on the [Style] button and select the Choose style from Song Title menu item.
- Press the S 3 Enter keys.

There are Title/Artist/Genre/Key/Tempo/Feel/TimeSig/Decade/Vocals columns. You can sort the list by any column.
- Title: This shows you the song title.
- Artist: These are the artist or artists most commonly associated with the song.
- Genre: This is the musical genre that the song is typically played in.
- Key: This is the song key that is usually associated with the song.
- Tempo: This is a typical tempo for the song.
- Feel: This shows you if the song is Even or Swing, and 8th or 16th cut-time.
- Decade: This tells you the decade that the song is from.
- Vocals: Typical vocals are shown: (M)ale/(F)emale, (H)igh/(L)ow voice.

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You can filter the list by genres, time signature, feel, tempo, decades, and more.
The chord density filter is available. Press the [Other] filter button and select one of the menu items below Filter by Chord
Density. For example, you can search titles that have chord changes in every 1-4 beats. You can also filter the list by chord
complexity. This is scaled by 1 to 10; 1 means simple with few chord changes and 10 means complex with many chord changes.
Press the [Other] filter button and select one of the menu items below Filter by Chord Changes.
You can see song titles that will only work with the current style. Pressing the [style: ] button will filter the list by the genre,
time signature, feel, and tempo of the current style. If the checkbox to the left of this button is enabled, then when you open the
dialog, the list will be automatically filtered to show song titles that are similar to the current style.
If you do not see a song title you are looking for, press the [Request] button. This will launch your internet browser and open
the PG Music forum page where you can request to add the song to the database.
The buttons in the Browse for more info area will launch the internet browser and let you browse for more info for the selected
song or listen to the song.
Once you have found a song, press the [OK - Find Matching Styles] button. This will take you to the StylePicker window with
styles that best match the tempo, feel, and genre of the selected song title.
Favorite Styles / Recently Used Styles
Other options in the Style button menu include Recently Used Styles and Favorite Styles. They open a dialog with
separate lists of Recently Played and Favorite styles.
Tip: You can also use the following hotkeys: s 5 Enter for favorite styles and s 4 Enter for the recently used styles.

You will see Favorites and Recently Played radio buttons that toggle between lists of recently played styles and your favorite
styles.
The favorites list will start off as an empty one. You can add styles as your favorites by clicking the [Add Fav] button.
Use the [To Top], [Up], and [Down] buttons to navigate the list.
Use the [Insert], [Append], and [Delete] buttons to modify the list.
The [Search] button will search for a style in the list by name, or part of a name.
The [Sort] button sorts the list alphabetically.
The [Load Set] and [Save Set] buttons allow you to save and load sets of Favorites or Recently Played styles.
Use the [Clear] button to clear the list and start a new one.
Enable the Play When Chosen option to play your song immediately upon selecting a style.
If OK to auto-add recent files is enabled, every style you select will be added to the top of the list.
Technical Note: The list of style favorites is stored in a text file called StyleFavorites.txt in the C:\bb\Preferences folder.

Style Aliases Dialog

The Style Aliases selection is found in the File | Load Style Special submenu.
Let’s say you’ve got a new jazz swing style called “J_DIZZY.” You can create an alias so that when Band-in-a-Box looks for a
jazz swing style, it will load in “J_DIZZY” instead, so you don’t have to make changes to all your songs. And when you have
found a new favorite style, just change the alias. You can also load or save sets of “Alias” files and share them with others.

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 To type in a style name that you don’t have, use the [Custom]
button.
1. To create a new alias, click on an empty spot (i.e., no alias
defined) in the alias list, or click on the alias you wish to
edit if you wish to change an existing alias.
2. Press the [Choose] button below the Original style box and
select the style you wish to be replaced.
3. Press the [Choose] button below the Substitution box and
select the replacement style (alias).
If you have made a mistake and wish to change your style
selection, press the [Clear] button. When you have
successfully made an alias, you will notice that there will be a
small arrow in the Styles box on the main screen indicating
that you have an alias loaded.
You can Export and Import alias files to share with your friends by clicking the [Import] button to open an alias file, or click on
the [Export] button to save an alias file.
Tip: You can temporarily totally disable the Alias feature by unchecking the “Allow Any Style Aliases” checkbox. You can also have
confirmation of alias substitutions by checking the “Confirm Substitution” checkbox.

Enable/Disable Style menu item

The File | Load Style Special submenu has an item to Enable/Disable the style. When a style is disabled, the name of the style
will have an X at the beginning, which indicates a disabled style. The disabled style won’t sound or write any data to the MIDI
file. The most common use for disabling a style is when a MIDI file is loaded to the Melody track. Then the style won’t sound
and conflict with the full arrangement on the Melody track.
Forced Styles option
This allows you to keep a style in memory. This way, all subsequent songs that are loaded will not change the style (even if they
have a different associated style), so you can easily play songs in the same style. If you’ve found a new favorite style, you can
try it out in all kinds of songs without having to reload the style each time.
For example, let’s say we’ve discovered the “GARNER” style, and want to try it out on all kinds of songs. Select File | Load
Style Special | OK to load styles with songs so that the item is NOT checked. Now when you load a song the new style doesn’t
load and you can play the song in GARNER.STY. You can temporarily override this setting by loading in another style using
the [Style] button or the File | Load Style Special menu, and the new style loaded will stay in until you choose another one.
Using MultiStyles
MultiStyles are styles that can have up to 24 substyles; original styles had two substyles, “a” and “b.” MultiStyles typically have
four substyles, but may have up to twenty-four, selected by using part markers “a” through “x.”
You can easily make your own MultiStyles, either from scratch, or combining parts from existing styles to make a MultiStyle.
For example, if you have 10 favorite country styles, you can quickly make a single MultiStyle that has 20 substyles available
within the same song.
There are 2 types of MultiStyles
1. MultiStyles in styles, working for every song (e.g., NR_CURR+.STY Nashville Rock Current MultiStyle).
2. MultiStyles for a specific song only.
MultiStyles in Styles (“+” Styles)
Styles can be made that have multiple substyles, and you can choose the various substyles using the letters a, b, c, d, etc. up to
“x” for 24 substyles.
Our naming convention for MultiStyles is to use a + sign at the end of the style name. For example, MyStyle+.STY would be a
MultiStyle.
You can use these substyles easily; just enter the StylePicker and filter the styles list by the “+” character.

For example, load the song NR_CURR+.MGU from the C:\bb\Documentation\Tutorials\Tutorial - BB2008 folder. This loads
the NR_CURR+.sty. When you see the “+” in the style name, you will know that this is a MultiStyle.

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Right-click on a part marker, and you will see that there are 4 substyles available.
In the style NR_CURR+, there are 4 substyles, a, b, c, and d.
Standard Pop Song form with 4 substyle MultiStyle
In NR_CURR+ (and as a general rule for styles with 4 substyles):
- “a” substyle is for the verse.
- “b” substyle is for the chorus.
- “c” substyle is for the intro (or first verse).
- “d” substyle is for the break (or interlude).
Choose your substyle by clicking on the part marker, or right-clicking to select and define substyles. Here we have chosen “c”
substyle, appropriate for the intro or first verse of the song (because the playing is sparse and sustained).
Making your own MultiStyles in Styles
You can make a style that is a MultiStyle.

- Open the StyleMaker and press the [Misc] button to open the Misc. Style Settings dialog.
- In the MultiStyles group box, type the name of a style that you want to use for the c/d section.

- If you’d like more substyles, add more styles separated by semicolons (e.g., “zzjazz;z5bossa;c_george”). Then you’d have 8
substyles from “a” to “h.”

Note that each of these styles can have a specific RealDrums style, either stored in the style itself (Misc. Style Settings
“RealDrums Settings”) or substituted via MIDI substitutions in RealDrums settings.
Naming MultiStyles
Styles can have names stored for the substyles. This is especially useful for MultiStyles to describe the various substyles.

The MultiStyle names are set in the StyleMaker Misc. Style Settings dialog. When present, the names are
visible with a right-click on a bar number.

MultiStyles in Songs
If you have a song, you can also use more than 2 substyles for that song. For example, let’s say we have a song that is a Bossa
Nova and you want to have a Jazz Swing section. Rather than finding a MultiStyle that has this exact combination, we can make
one, in the song, for this song only as follows:
Load a song like C:\bb\Demos\MIDI Style Demos\Styles00\zzbossa.mg4.

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 Right-click on a bar number, and choose “Define c/d.” Then choose
ZZJAZZ.STY from the StylePicker.

You will then see that there are 4 substyles now, a, b, c, d. You can use
the “d” substyle for Jazz Swing walking bass, since it is the same as the
“b” substyle from ZZJAZZ.

Load the song C:\bb\Documentation\Tutorials\Tutorial - BB2008\Demo of MultiStyle in song only Bossa 2 Jazz.MG4, and you
can see the finished result. This song switches styles using part markers.
Note: The RealDrums will play for all of the styles if you have enabled RealDrums and “Substitute RealDrums for MIDI drums” in the
RealDrums Settings dialog.

Adding MIDI SuperTracks

What are MIDI SuperTracks?
MIDI SuperTracks are MIDI tracks that can be added to a track or a style and play like other MIDI tracks in a style. They are
called “SuperTracks” because they are generated using a different engine than typical MIDI style tracks. Typical MIDI style
tracks are generated from C7 patterns in the style and repeat these patterns over any chord. MIDI SuperTracks use actual MIDI
playing from musicians (similar to RealTracks in that regard), so are not based on patterns.
Using MIDI SuperTracks
To use MIDI SuperTracks, either:
1. Choose a style or song that has MIDI SuperTracks and press Play. Look in the MIDI SuperTracks Demos folder for these
songs
2. Add a MIDI SuperTrack to a certain track.
Adding a MIDI SuperTrack
For example, let’s add a MIDI SuperTrack to the Piano track. Right-click on the Piano track label at the top of the screen to see
a menu of options (or right-click on the Piano track in the Mixer), then choose Select MIDI SuperTrack for this track.

You will see the Select MIDI SuperTracks dialog.

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You can type a text or press the filter button [#] to narrow down your search.
There are memos describing the individual MIDI SuperTracks, and you can click on the memo for a big window.
You can preview the MIDI SuperTracks by double-clicking on the list or using the transport control buttons.
Pressing the [Artist Bios] button opens the Artist Browser which lists all RealTracks artists and allows you to see more info.
Choose a MIDI SuperTrack from the list and click [OK].
You will then see that the Piano track label has turned blue to indicate that it is a MIDI SuperTrack.
When you play the song, you will hear a much more sophisticated MIDI arrangement than a typical MIDI style, since it is not
based on C7 chord patterns; instead, it is based on hours of actual MIDI playing from a top studio musician.
Once you have selected a MIDI SuperTracks, you might want to assign a specific VST/DX instrument to play it. If so, use the
Mixer’s Plugins panel, and click on the first slot for the track that you want to set.

Each MIDI SuperTrack is assigned a number, like the MIDI Soloists or the RealTracks, so you can access the MIDI
SuperTracks from the Select Soloist dialog as well, and they are highlighted in cyan.

Using RealTracks in Songs

Your songs, styles, and solos can use live audio tracks recorded by studio musicians. Many Band-in-a-Box styles already use
these tracks, and you can substitute these live recordings for the Band-in-a-Box MIDI tracks in any song.
Using RealTracks in Songs – RealTracks Picker
The RealTracks Picker allows you to assign a specific RealTracks instruments to a track in a song. It also displays any
RealTracks that are currently assigned to each track.
Note: RealTracks can either be assigned from the style or from the song. This dialog allows you to assign the ones in the song.
This dialog is launched by several ways.
1. Press the R T Enter or R T 1 Enter keys.
2. Click on the [RealTracks] toolbar button and select RealTracks Picker Dialog, or Shift-click on this button.

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3. Right-click or double-click on a track radio button at the top of the screen and choose Select RealTracks in the menu.
4. Click on a track name in the Mixer and choose Select RealTracks in the menu.
5. Press the [Assign to Track] button in the RealTracks Settings dialog.
6. In the Track Settings and Actions dialog, click on the [+] button to the right of the RealTracks radio button and choose
Select RealTracks in the menu.

To use the dialog, first select the track at the top left corner. Then, select the RealTracks for that track from the list.
You can instantly hear an audio demo by double-clicking a RealTracks on the list. Since this doesn’t affect your song, you can
quickly audition many different RealTracks, and find the best ones for your song.
You can choose which of band or solo plays first when you double-click on the list, by
the Band (on Double Click) checkbox. Otherwise, press the [Band] or the [Solo]
button. The demos play from the Internet (www.pgmusic.com) or your hard drive
(C:\bb\Demos\RealTracks-Demos).
Changing RealTracks
You can change RealTracks within a song.
There are 2 ways to change RealTracks at any bar.
1. Change of RealTracks Styles at any Bar
You can change styles with RealTracks at any bar. For example, switch from Jazz Swing to Bossa style
at any bar. To do this, first open the Edit Settings for Current Bar dialog (press F5) at the bar where
you want the style change. Then press the [STY] button to select a style change.

Note: If the track type changes by the style change, the track will be silent from the current bar. For example, when the style with a MIDI piano
track is selected for the song, if you select a style with a RealTracks piano track at the current bar, the piano track will be silent after the style
change.
2. Change of individual RealTracks instrument can be added to any track at any bar
You can change specific RealTracks without changing the style by inserting a specific RealTracks
instrument into a track at any bar to create a customized performance. For example, if you want to
change an Acoustic Bass comping part to an Acoustic Bass Solo at Chorus 4, Bar 1, you can do this.
To change a certain track’s RealTracks at any bar, first open the Edit Settings for Current Bar dialog
(press F5) at the bar that you want the style change. Then press the [RealTracks] button and you will
see the RealTracks changes dialog, where you can choose tracks you want to have RealTracks
changes on.

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 Select a track, then press the “Change RealTracks to”
and you will then see a list of RealTracks.

You will see a huge list of RealTracks, so you will likely want to narrow it down. Type a word that is included in the
RealTracks name like “bass,” and the list will only show bass RealTracks.

UserTracks
UserTracks allow anyone to create their own audio styles for use in Band-in-a-Box. With a UserTracks style, you can type in
any chords into Band-in-a-Box, and the UserTracks style you made will play that chord progression! For example, if you’ve
made a UserTracks style by recording yourself playing a guitar groove, you can then type any chords into Band-in-a-Box, and
the result will be that it will play your guitar groove over these completely new, original chord changes! You can even change
the tempo, or enter songs in ANY key, and it will still be able to play it!
Note: UserTracks support “Avoid transpositions in RealTracks” and “Ignore Slash Root of Slash Chords, except Bass Track” options in the
Song Settings dialog.
Tip: UserTracks work with rests. Just add rests to chords, and UserTracks will follow them. Note that there is no specific support for shots or
hold by UserTracks. They will just rest when these are encountered.
You can use the UserTracks in a similar manner to using RealTracks.
To select a UserTracks for a track, first select the track at the top of the screen. For example, if you want to add a UserTrack to
the Guitar Track, launch the menu on the Guitar track button (by right-click or double-click), and choose Select a UserTrack for
this Track.

An alternative to the menu is to select the Guitar track and then press the [UserTracks] button on the main screen.

Now you will see the Pick a UserTrack dialog.

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You can preview UserTracks by double-clicking on the list or using the transport control buttons.
The speaker icon in the transport control allows you to control the volume of the demos.
You can select a timebase (normal, half-time, double-time, or triple-time) for any UserTracks.
Tip: UserTracks can be made and preset to a timebase by the user. For example, if you have a UserTrack in Ev
8 called “Santur,” you can clone the folder and rename the cloned one as “Santur [Double-Time].” Then it will
play in Double-Time Ev 16 half of the tempo.

Select a UserTrack and press OK. You will then see that UserTrack listed on the Guitar track on the Mixer. Simply press the
[Generate and Play] button to hear it.

Using RealDrums in Songs

The RealDrums Picker is used to assign a particular RealDrums style for just the one song you are working on. RealDrums
made by you (or others) that are added by you to the Drums folder also appear in the RealDrums Picker dialog.
The RealDrums Picker opens by several ways.
1. Press the R D Enter or R D 1 Enter keys.
2. Click on the [RealDrums] toolbar button and select RealDrums Picker Dialog, or Shift-click on this button.
3. Right-click (or double-click) on the Drums track button at the top of the main screen and choose RealDrums in the menu.
4. Click on the Drums track in the Mixer and choose RealDrums in the menu.
5. RealDrums can be added to any track, not just the Drums track, so you can have more than one drums track. To do this,
right-click on a track button and select Choose RealDrums.
6. Click on the RealDrums radio button in the Track Settings and Actions dialog.

You can double-click on a RealDrums or on the Variation name of the RealDrums to audition each variation of the RealDrums.
For example, if you’ve found CountryWaltz^, you can now hear demos of the variations (CountryWaltz^1-HiHat,Ride,
CountryWaltz^2-Brushes etc.).
Each demo has a “band” version with all instruments and a “solo” version
with drums only. You can choose which of them plays first when you double-
click on the list, by the Band (on Double Click) checkbox. Otherwise, press
the [Band] or the [Solo] button. The demos play 4 bars of “a” substyle, and
then 4 bars of “b” substyle, using the current RealDrums (left hand panel) and
the variation (right hand panel).
Choose RealDrums
This is the simpler dialog for choosing RealDrums, an alternative to the RealDrums Picker. It displays all available RealDrums
in a simple list, which can be easily filtered by genre, time signature, feel, and more. The list can be set to show only RealDrums

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that are compatible with the current style of the song. You can also set the highlighted RealDrums as a prototype RealDrums to
find alternates to that RealDrums.
To open the dialog, right-click on the Drums track button, and select [QuickList] RealDrums in Song from the menu.
Tip: Pressing the R D 3 Enter keys also opens the dialog.

You can filter the list by genre, time signature, feel, tempo, and text. Use the [Set to Style: ] button to see RealDrums that are
compatible with the current style of the song. The [Set to RD: ] button allows you to set the highlighted RealDrums as a
prototype RealDrums so you can find alternates to that RealDrums. Press the [Clear] button to clear any filter.
EZ Selection of Drum Grooves
Many RealDrums sets include variations, or different grooves. There is an easy way to select the different grooves within the
song. Simply right-click on a bar number, and you see a menu of the DrumGrooves within the style. So, for example, you could
easily switch from the “side stick/hihat” groove to “snare/Ride.” These are RealDrums with names that end with a caret (^) like
CountryPopEv16^.
You can access the Drum Grooves to select them at any bar, by right-clicking on the bar number. You then see a menu of all the
DrumGrooves.

For example, one DrumGroove is “Snare, HiHat” and another one is “Snare, Ride.” You can switch the Grooves at any bar, so
that the Drum part is more interesting.

The menu item Apply Drum Groove change to allows you to select which chorus the change of DrumGroove should apply to
(default is all choruses).
Note that the changes of Drum Grooves are entered in the F5 bar settings dialog.

Assigning Custom MIDI Tracks

You can add MIDITracks individually (from any style) to play on any track of your current song. For example, let’s add a
“MIDI strings” track to the Strings track.
Select the Strings track and then click on the [MIDI Tracks] toolbar button and select MIDITracks (from
.STY) menu command. Or you can right-click on the Strings track button at the top, and choose Select a
Custom MIDI style for this track.
The MIDI Track Picker dialog will open.

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You can select MIDI parts a few different ways.
- The [Choose Style with this instrument] button launches the StylePicker, filtered to only display styles that contain the
instrument specified. For example, if you select “49 Strings,” it will only show MIDI styles with strings.
- The [Choose from Presets] button launches a dialog with preset “popular” choices for MIDITracks to add. You can type a
filter like “49” to only see entries for “49 Strings,” or type “strings.” This dialog shows you if the instrument is for “a” or “b”
substyles or both (“ab”).
- The [Choose from Favorites] button will remember your last few hundred choices, so you can re-use them.
Once chosen, the MIDI track will play on the track chosen. Note that you can use the Strings track from a style and play it on
any Band-in-a-Box track, including Bass/Piano etc., and even the Melody or Soloist track.
When you assign an instrument to a different track Band-in-a-Box will open a yellow message box to confirm your choice.
Press [OK] to continue or [Clear] to redo your choice.
Tutorial Demo Song – Adding MIDITracks
To check out a song that has had two individual MIDITracks added to it, open this folder:
C:\bb\Documentation\Tutorials\Tutorial - BB2012, and open the file <=HANKMID Demo (MIDI Presets used over a country
swing style).SGU>.
Press the [Memo] toolbar button to read about the feature and the demo song.

Adding Loops
You can add your own or third-party loops to any track. Loops are audio files (WAV, wma, m4a, mp4, mp3) that reside in the
Loops folder of the RealTracks folder. You can add your own files to this folder.
Loops support many types of ACIDized Loops (for WAV and MP3 files). And, if you add an Acid loop that is on a certain root
(e.g., F), Band-in-a-Box will instantly allow you to use that as a complete style, by transposing that loop to the current chord of
the song in Band-in-a-Box, so that the loop follows your chord progression.
Click on the [Loops] toolbar button to open the Pick a Loop dialog. You can also right-click on a track radio button at
the top of the screen and choose the menu item Select a Loop for this track. Pressing the R L Enter keys also opens the
dialog.

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Double-click on the list or use a transport control button to preview the loop. The instant preview sometimes plays demos from
the internet. You can save any file that is being played from the internet by clicking the folder icon.
You can control the volume of the demos with the speaker icon in the transport control.
Normally, the loop will retrigger when it ends, but it can be retriggered at certain points using the Also retrigger WAV every
option.
For a nature sound, there is no tempo, and you don’t want to select stretch tempo. For a Drums loop, you want to stretch the
tempo. Once you select Stretch Tempo, enter the tempo of the WAV file (if known), and if not known, enter the # of beats in
the wav file. For example, 2 bars would be 8 beats.
For a nature sound, you don’t want any transposition. For a melodic sound, you might want to transpose to the root of the chord
in the Band-in-a-Box song. If so, enter the root of the WAV file, and set the Transpose type to “chord root.”
The Timebase option allows you to select a timebase (normal, half-time, double-time, or triple-time) for any Loop.
If you want a different sound for the “b” substyle, enter that WAV file name in the ‘b’ substyle loop setting.
The [Open Folder] button opens your Loops folder and allows you to add audio files (loops) to it. If you add files, you need to
press the [Refresh] button, or exit the dialog and re-enter it to refresh the list.
There are many good sources for loops and sounds on the Internet. One is freesound.org, which has many sound effects. The
[Get Sounds] button launches your internet browser to search for free loops.
Technical Note: The settings that you make to the WAV files are stored in .bt6 files in the Loops folder. If you don’t make any settings, then
default settings are used, which would be a “nature sound” type of loop, that wouldn’t be transposed or tempo stretched.
Pressing the [No Loop] button is a quick way to clear a loop on a track, as opposed to scrolling up to “No Loop chosen for this
Track.”
The [Rename] button allows you to rename a loop.
The [Clone] button will duplicate a loop, allowing you to use it with different parameters.
Tutorial Demo Songs - Loops
To see the Loops feature in action, open this folder: C:\bb\Documentation\Tutorials\Tutorial - BB2012 and open one of these
files:
_ELECTAM Demo (‘Loop’ feature with tambourine percussion added).SGU.
=THUNDER Demo (New Age style with Thunder Loop).MGU.
In the first example, a percussion loop has been added to a rock song, in the second example, a rain & thunder sound effects
loop has been added to a New Age style.
When you play these songs, press the [Memo] toolbar button to read about the feature and the demo song.
Tip: Loops can be combined with drums on the Drums track. To do this, open the Create Multi-Drums dialog by right-clicking on the Drums
track button and selecting Multi-Drums | Edit Multi-Drums for this song.

Using Utility Tracks

Band-in-a-Box has 16 editable Utility tracks, which can be used for audio and/or MIDI. You can generate RealTracks on the
Utility tracks, where you can hear and edit the audio RealTracks, or view and edit the RealCharts MIDI. You can also generate
RealDrums, MIDI SuperTracks, Loops, etc. You can record audio or import an audio file to the Utility tracks to play, edit, or
harmonize the audio. You can copy or move audio, MIDI, or both from other tracks to the Utility tracks. You can record MIDI
or import a MIDI file to the Utility tracks for playback, notation display, or editing.
Note: If a Utility track contains both audio and MIDI, the audio is audible and the MIDI is only for display purposes (e.g., transcription of the
audio). If a Utility track contains only MIDI, then the MIDI is audible.
To generate RealTracks on a Utility track, right-click on that track in the Mixer and go to Generate | Select and Generate
RealTracks. If you want to generate RealTracks for a region, highlight the region on the Utility track in the Audio Edit window.
Then, select a RealTracks in the Best RealTracks dialog and press OK.

When the RealTracks is generated, you can view the audio in the Audio Edit window.
Tip: If the track contains a RealChart, you can also view notation and see the playing on the guitar fretboard or the piano keyboard.

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Press the [Play] button on the toolbar to hear the RealTracks on the Utility track. You can use the Mixer to control volume,
panning, etc. for the Utility track.

You can regenerate a region of the RealTracks on the Utility track. Highlight the region, press the [Edit] button, and go to
Generate | Generate RealTracks. If you want to regenerate a region using a different RealTracks, use the Select and Generate
RealTracks menu item instead.

During the regeneration, the whole track becomes blank for a moment, but when it’s finished, everything except the highlighted
region is the same as it was before.

Note: If you select a mono RealTracks for the whole track and then select a stereo RealTracks for a region, the whole track will be converted
to a stereo.
You can repeat this process until you are satisfied, and since it supports the Undo and Redo, you can use the Ctrl+Z or
Shift+Ctrl+Z keys to go back to what you like most.
The audio on the Utility tracks can be edited in the Audio Edit window with the [Edit] button menu, the right-click menu, or
the standard hotkeys (e.g., Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V). For example, you can highlight a region and move it to another location of the
track, or you can select the whole track, copy it, and paste it into another Utility track. When the regions are edited, the
beginning and ending of the regions cross-fade to make a smooth transition, so you won’t hear unpleasant clicks or pops at the
joints during playback.
Note: Previously, when you generated RealTracks on Utility tracks, Band-in-a-Box created very large audio .WAV files. So, if you made a lot of
songs with Utility tracks, it took up too much of your hard drive space, and this often made it complicated to organize your files. Band-in-a-Box
does not do this anymore and instead point to the source material. This is called wave instructions, in which Band-in-a-Box saves a list of
different parts of the source material. Those instructions are tiny and they are saved in the small Band-in-a-Box song file (.MGU/.SGU).

Track Settings and Actions Dialog

This is a convenient “one-stop-shopping” dialog where you can select RealTracks, Loops, MIDI SuperTracks, etc., set volume/
reverb/panning/tone, mute, solo, freeze, save as Performance Tracks, and do many other things for all 24 tracks.
You can open this dialog in several ways.
- Press the F7 or T Enter keys.
- Use the Edit | Track Settings and Actions Dialog menu item.
- Right-click on the Chord Sheet and select Track Settings and Actions from the contextual menu.
- Right-click on the track button at the top of the screen and select Track Settings and Actions Dialog from the contextual menu.
In the list at the top of the dialog, you can see which instruments are currently selected for each track. It also shows the type of
the track (RT/RD/MST), the mute or frozen status, and MIDI patches. Select a track in the list and select settings for that track at
the bottom half of the dialog.

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Enabled: If you uncheck this, the track will not be generated.
[Defaults]: This sets the track settings to defaults. Note that any settings from the underlying style will remain. To prevent style
tracks from playing, disable the track.
[Erase Track]: This erases both audio and MIDI data from the track.
[Edit MIDI]: This has various MIDI editing commands like transpose, generate chord track, transpose octave to note range, etc.
[Copy/Move]: This allows you to copy or move the current track to another track.
Frozen: If this is checked, no new data will be auto-generated.
Editable Audio: This changes the track to an editable audio track, which will be saved as a WAV. This is usually done for
vocals or other recordings.
Audio Base Tempo: If the track type is an editable audio track, this is the tempo that the audio was recorded or created at.
Audio Transpose: You can transpose the track if it’s an editable audio track.
[re-Generate Whole Track]: For a RealTrack, this will re-generate the whole track.
[MultiRiff (re-gen part of track)]: This allows you to interactively create sections of RealTracks by choosing from multiple
candidates (up to 20).
Generation Type - None: If this is set, no auto-generation will occur except for an underlying style. To prevent generation from
an underlying style, disable the track.
Generation Type - RealTracks: Click on the radio button to open the RealTracks Picker, or click on the [+] button to select a
RealTrack using other dialogs.
Generation Type - Loop: Click on this radio button to select a Loop.
Generation Type - UserTracks: Click on this radio button to select a UserTrack.
Generation Type - RealDrums (Drums Track): To select RealDrums on the Drums track, select this radio button to open the
RealDrums Picker or the click on the [+] button to select RealDrums using other dialogs.
Generation Type - RealDrums (Other Tracks): This can be used for a second drum track or Drum Stems.
Generation Type - MIDI SuperTracks: Click on this radio button to select a MIDI SuperTrack. MIDI SuperTracks are high-
quality MIDI tracks, based on performances by studio musicians.
Generation Type - MIDI from current style: This is a MIDI track from the current style.
Generation Type - Custom MIDI from specific style: You can select a MIDI track from another style.
Summary: You can copy this summary and paste it into a custom description.
Label: This allows you to customize the short track label.
Description: This allows you to customize the long track description.
[Update Label]: Press this button if you have entered a label and/or description.
Volume/Reverb/Panning/Tone: You can control mixer for the track.

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MIDI Patch: You can select a MIDI patch for the MIDI track by pressing the [+] button and using the menu. If you know the
General MIDI patch number, Bank 0, and Bank 32, enter the numbers and press the [Update Patch] button.
[Un-Mute]: This will un-mute all tracks.
Muted: This will mute the track.
MIDI Channel: This allows you to re-route the MIDI events on the current track to another channel.
Timebase: With this option, you can hear an audio-type track (RealTracks, RealDrums, etc.) at normal, half time, double time,
or triple time. If the style tempo is 80, a 160 tempo should be set to double time.
Medley: This allows a RealTracks medley (multiple consecutive or simultaneous RealTracks on the same track).
Bluesy: This option will play major triad like C as if they were C7, so the track sounds bluesy.
Simpler: This makes the arrangement use “simpler” playing, with less notes and embellishments.
Direct Input: This option is for electric guitar RealTracks that were recorded any effects so that you can add your own effects
by amp simulators.
Held: If you check this, the track will make a simple arrangement, mostly playing held chords.
[Play]: This plays the song, using the current track settings and re-generating the tracks.
[Re-Play]: This replays the song without regenerating the tracks.
[Stop]: This stops playback.
[Save as .STY]: This allows you to create a new style with a new name. The style will contain the current auto-generated tracks
in the song.

Adding Bar-Based Lyrics

You can enter lyrics in each bar on the Chord Sheet.
To enter lyrics, you first need to display the Bar Lyrics layer by clicking on the [Chord Display] toolbar button and selecting
Layers | Bar Lyrics.

If the song does not have any lyrics, the Bar Lyrics layer does not appear on most lines, but it appears on the row where the bar
is highlighted. If you click on a bar on another row, the layer will appear on that row.

Double-click on the Bar Lyrics layer on a bar where you want to enter lyrics. This will change the color of the layer, which
indicates that you can type in that location. You can use keys to navigate through the layer: Tab to go forward, Shift+Tab to go
backward.

Type a lyric and press the Tab key. This will enter the lyric and move the editing bar forward.

To edit lyrics, go back there by clicking on that bar or using the Shift+Tab keys, and then retype.
If you have entered lyrics that were supposed to be spaced out over some bars, go back to the bar, and use the Left Arrow key
to move the cursor to the beginning of the lyric that should be in the next bar. Then press Enter. This will push that lyric to the
next bar and shuffle the texts in the following bars forward as well.
Example: You realize that “once was lost” in bar 13 should have been “once was,” and lyrics in bar 14 should have been spread
over some bars.

Press Shift+Tab to go back to bar 13.

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Use the left arrow key to move the cursor to the beginning of “lost.”

And press Enter. This pushes “lost” to bar 14 and “but now am found” to bar 15.

Use Tab or Shift+Tab to move through the bars, the Left/Right Arrow keys to move the cursor within the bar, and Enter or
Backspace to push lyrics, until the lyrics are in the correct bars.

The Bar Lyrics layer is designed so that you can even edit lyrics during playback.
Another way to enter lyrics is to copy lyrics from a text file and paste them directly to the Bar Lyrics layer.
First, prepare lyrics in the text file and copy them to the clipboard. Then, go back to Band-in-a-
Box, double-click on the bar where the lyrics should be inserted and press Ctrl+V.

Now all the lyrics are entered in the layer.

But the lyrics are not quite in the correct bars, so you need to fix using the Tab, Enter, or Left/Right Arrow keys.

There is an easier way for this copying and pasting method. If the lyrics in the text file are arranged so that each line represents a
bar, you need very little to fix after pasting.
First, edit the lyrics in the text file so that every line corresponds to a bar. Then, copy them all to the clipboard.
Next, go back to Band-in-a-Box, double-click on the bar where the lyrics should be inserted and press Ctrl+V
keys.

Tip: You can convert note-based lyrics to bar-based lyrics using the Edit | Lyrics | Covert Note-Based Lyrics to Bar Lyrics menu item.

Chapter 6: Making Songs 143

Adding Melody – MIDI and/or Audio
Record a MIDI Melody
Band-in-a-Box is much more than an intelligent arranger and accompanist. You can record your live MIDI performance, enter a
melody in the Notation note-by-note, or use the Wizard feature to record with either your computer keyboard or a connected
MIDI keyboard controller.
If you want a metronome to play while you are recording, you can select it in the Count-in and Metronome Options (Options |
Preferences | [Count-in/Metro]) dialog. You can even have a visual metronome if you like.
Press the [Record MIDI] toolbar button or press Ctrl+R. This launches the Record MIDI dialog. You can punch in/out,
overdub, and record directly to the ending or the tag, and use the filter to choose which MIDI events are recorded. You
can also select the destination track.

Pressing the [Record] button will start recording what you play on the Thru track. An audible count-in is played prior to
recording.
Once you have completed recording your melody, Band-in-a-Box will ask
you if you want to keep the take and if you want to copy the recorded
chorus to the whole song. If you did not record the full track you can
choose to retain the rest of the track beyond the part you just recorded.

Sequencer Mode
Normally, you would want a single part on the Melody or Soloist track, but since MIDI information can have separate channels,
it is possible to store 16 separate parts on each of the tracks. For the following discussion, we will assume that you’re using the
Melody track, but the same functions are available for the Soloist. When the Melody track has been set to “Multi(16)-Channel”
we refer to this as “Sequencer Mode.”
If you want to use the 16 separate parts for the Melody track, you need to set the Melody track type to “Multi (16) -Channel.”
This is done from the Melody (or Soloist) menu or with the [Sequencer] button.

Now, when you are in this multi-channel mode, output from the Melody track will be on whatever MIDI channel the
information is stored on and will not be using the Melody MIDI channel. Both the Melody and Soloist tracks can be set to multi-
channel play, for a total of 32 channels.
Tip: Looking for inspiration? At the click of a button, the Band-in-a-Box Melodist will write entire new songs from scratch, complete with
Chords, Intro, Melody, Solo, Ending, and even an original Title. Or you can enter your own chord changes and let the Melodist create a new
melody over them. There are more than 100 Jazz, Pop, Rock, Latin, Country, and Classical melody styles.

Embellishing the Melody

When musicians see a Lead Sheet that has a melody written out, they almost never play it exactly as written. They change the
timing to add syncopation, change durations to achieve staccato or legato playing, add grace notes, slurs, extra notes, vibrato,
and other effects. You can have Band-in-a-Box do these automatically using the Embellisher.

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You can enable the Embellisher from the [Embellish Melody] button menu or with Ctrl+Alt+E keys. Any melody will be
embellished as it is played so that you hear a livelier and more realistic melody - and it’s different every time.
Embellisher dialog in the [Embellish Melody] button or Ctrl+Alt+L opens the Melody Embellisher dialog with many user
options to control the embellishment settings. The Embellisher presets allow you to choose a combination of common settings
for the Embellisher quickly.
The Embellisher is only active while the music is playing; the recorded Melody track isn’t affected. There is an option for the
Embellisher to only humanize the timing of the music if the timing was “stiff” to begin with. This allows the Embellisher to
leave the timing of human input melodies alone and humanize only the ones that were entered in step-time.
Harmonize the MIDI Melody
Use the [Harmony] button item MIDI – Melody Harmony or press Alt+F10 to add a MIDI harmony to the Melody
track. This opens the Select Melody Harmony dialog where you can choose from any of the pre-defined harmonies.
The [Edit] button will open the Harmony Maker, where you
can customize Harmonists.
The [Search] button allows you to search for a harmony by a
keyword (i.e., typing in the first few letters of a harmony
name) in either the Harmonies or Favorite Harmonies
dialog.
The [Note Off] button is to turn off any notes that are stuck
on. (There shouldn’t be any.)
Enter the number of the harmony you want to go to and press
[Go To #].
The [Fav] button will produce a list the 50 most recently
loaded harmonies.
The [No harmony] button will disable the harmony for the
song. The keystrokes Shift+F10 also allow or disable the
Melody harmony.

When adding a harmony to the Melody (or Soloist) you can use the option to loosen up start times of for the harmony notes to
achieve a more natural, richer harmony sound. Choose menu item Melody | Edit Melody Track | Quantize, Time Adjust | Loosen
Start Times. You can select the range of adjustments. For example, if you want the notes to be played earlier, use a negative
number. A setting of minus 5 to positive 6 would cause the start times to be varied up to 5 ticks early and 6 ticks late. There is
also a setting to choose whether you want only the harmony notes present on the track to be affected, leaving the original
melody unaffected.

Convert Track to Harmony

This feature permanently writes the specified harmony to the Melody or Soloist track, instead of being applied in real time. Use
the [Write Harmony to Melody Track] or [Write Harmony to Soloist Track] button in the Select Melody/Soloist Harmony
dialogs, or the Convert Harmony… menu command found in the Melody and Soloist menus. You will then see a dialog allowing
you to choose the range of the song to add the harmony, either the whole song or a specified range of bars.
There are options to “Eliminate Note Overlap” and “Loosen start times of notes” for the harmony notes to achieve a more
natural, richer harmony sound. The melody is not affected, only the harmony notes, and there are options for the range of spread
for the harmony notes.

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 Note: Once the track is converted you should set the
harmony to “None” or you will hear harmonies being
applied to the harmony notes, i.e., “harmony-on-a-
harmony.”

Record a Live Audio

You can record your live vocal or instrumental performance and save it to an audio wave file along with the Band-in-a- Box
accompaniment. Make sure that you have a microphone plugged in to your sound card, or a connection from a mixer, keyboard,
or other audio device connected to the Line In jack on your sound card.
Click on the [Record Audio] button or select the Audio | Record Audio menu item. This will open the Record Audio
dialog and the VU Meters.
Tip: To leave the VU Meters open while recording, enable the “Leave VU Meters open while recording” option in the dialog.
The VU Meters show the average strength of the signal, with a dB scale, and a clip indicator. Clipping indicates
that the signal has overloaded and will sound distorted (clipped).
The green area represents normal levels, while red indicates an overload.
Ideally, the sounds should remain in the green and avoid the red altogether. Unlike analog recording, where it’s
good to get a “hot” high signal, digital recordings need to absolutely avoid high levels since any overload of the
signal will result in clipping and a ruined recording.

Set the start point for the recording.

You can record from the start of the song, somewhere in the middle, or punch in by choosing a bar and chorus # to start
recording.
Select the destination track.
Audio can be recorded to any track.
Select the destination track for recording MIDI.
If you also want to record MIDI at the same time, choose the destination track with the “Record MIDI to” option.
Press [Record].
Audio recording begins. If you have enabled the “Leave VU Meter while recording” option, then the VU Meter will open and
display during recording so you can monitor the VU meters.
Press the [Stop] toolbar button or press the [Esc] key.
You will then see the “Keep Take?” dialog. If you are happy with your recording, you should choose [OK -Keep Take] and the
audio will be added to the Audio track. You can listen to the results by pressing [Play]. If you are not happy with the results,

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you can choose Edit | Undo Keep Audio Take and you will be back to where you were prior to the recording. You can also
choose the option to [Take Again], which reopens the Recording dialog.
Copy 1st chorus to whole song: If you’ve recorded only 1 chorus of the
song, you can choose the option to copy that first chorus of audio to the whole
song. This will fill up the whole song with the audio by repeating it as many
times as necessary. Then you’d just need to record the ending of the song.
Overdub underlying audio: At the end of recording, you receive an option to
overdub with the underlying audio. This means that both recordings will be
merged together to form a new file, with both recordings preserved.
Retain audio past last recorded: This allows you to “punch out” and
preserve the rest of a previously recorded take.
Importing Audio Files
A mono or stereo WAV file can be imported to your song, optionally merging with or replacing the existing audio. Choose the
menu item File | Import Audio (WAV, WMA, MP3, WMV) or Audio | Import Audio (WAV, WMA, MP3, WMV). You then choose
an audio file to import. This will open the Import Audio File dialog, which allows selection of the destination track, the point
to insert the audio file, and the option to merge or overwrite existing audio in the destination.
If the audio file contains Acid Loop or Apple® Loop
information, the dialog shows an option to set the audio base
tempo of the current song to the tempo of the audio file.

Adding Solo - “The Soloist”

That’s right! Band-in-a-Box can “solo like a pro” in hundreds of styles. You can either use the dedicated Soloist track or assign
a Soloist RealTrack to any track.
There are two ways to select and add a solo to your song. The “Best Soloist” feature presents a pre-qualified list of Soloists to
choose from. The Select Soloist dialog gives you the full list of Soloists to choose from, plus additional settings you can apply
to the solo.

Pick “Best” Soloist RealTracks

This dialog shows you the best Soloists that match the genre, tempo, and feel of your song. The list is displayed from best to
worst. For example, if you have a jazz ballad style loaded (tempo 60), the list will show jazz Soloists that will work well at a
tempo of 60 at the top of the list, and something like a fast, heavy metal guitar Soloist at the bottom of the list.
To add a best Soloist to the Soloist track, press the [Soloist] button and choose the menu option Add Best RealTracks Soloist to
Soloist Track.
To add a best Soloist to any track, right-click (or double-click) on the track button (e.g., Piano) and choose the Select
RealTracks | Select Best Soloist RealTracks menu command.
You will then see the dialog that lists the best Soloists for the current style.

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It will include “Soloists” and “Background (Melodic).” You can de-select these if you want to see only “Soloists” (and not
“Background”).
If you want to filter the list, enter text or press the [#] button.
You can audition the RealTracks by double-clicking on the list or using the transport control buttons.
You can choose options (timebase, bluesy, simple, etc.) for the selected RealTrack.
Enabling the List best subs for the current RealTracks option will list RealTracks that are similar to the currently selected
RealTracks.
Pressing the [Artist Bios] button opens the Artist Browser which lists all RealTracks artists and allows you to see more info.
Select MIDI or RealTracks Soloist (Select Soloist Dialog)
To select a pre-made MIDI or RealTrack Soloist, press Shift+F4, or choose Soloist | Generate and Play a Solo. The Select
Soloist dialog will open. You can also Ctrl+click on the [Soloist] button, or select Open Soloist Dialog to choose MIDI or
RealTracks Soloist from the [Soloist] button drop-down menu.

You can select a Soloist type (e.g., Modern Jazz) and see only Soloists matching the type. And you can also filter to show/not
show Soloists from Soloist sets that you don’t have.
Use the preset Soloist settings or choose a Mode and which Choruses to solo.

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Automatic Songs - “The Melodist”
Feel like composing a brand-new song? With Band-in-a-Box you can compose a new song, in the style of your choice complete
with intro, chords, melody, arrangement, and improvisations, all created by the program! All you have to do is pick from one of
the “Melodists” and press [OK] - the program then automatically generates the intro, chords, melody, and arrangement in the
chosen style. It even auto-generates a title! You can go from nothing to a completed song in less than 1 second!
You can also auto-regenerate any part of a song and modify it to suit you. The Melodist will also generate a melody over an
existing chord progression. A “Melodist Juke Box” mode creates and performs new compositions in succession.
To launch the Melodist, press the [Melodist] button on the main screen, or use the Shift+F5 hotkeys.

Melodists can be filtered by Genre (e.g., EZ listening) to show only Melodists in that genre. You can also filter to show/not
show Melodists from Melodist sets that you don’t have. Check Show if N/A to list all Melodists even if they are not included in
your Band-in-a-Box.
Note: Band-in-a-Box also has a SoundTrack feature that allows you to generate music in the style you choose for any length of time you
specify. Click on Generate Soundtrack in the Melody menu.

Song Editing Features

The on-screen display of the song file name includes “*” when the file has been changed.

Edit | Undo and Edit | Redo allow you to Undo (or redo) most operations. Multiple Undo supports up to 999 levels of undo
(configurable). The default number of undo is 99. If you need to change this, it can be done in Options | Preferences “Number
of levels of undo.” The range can be 5 to 999. You can also choose Edit | Redo to redo an undo.

Technical Note: Audio Undos are large WAV files, so are stored in an Undos folder in the BB directory. This directory is emptied when the
undos are no longer needed.
Edit | Cut functions like a delete command. It removes bars of chords from a song.
Copy/Move Tracks
The Copy/Move Tracks command in the Edit | Copy Special submenu allows copying or moving data (audio and/or MIDI) from
one track to another.

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Select the Source Track that you want to copy or move data from and the Destination Track that will receive the copied or
moved data. The source and destination tracks can be any track - Bass, Drums, Piano, Guitar, Strings, Melody, Soloist, Audio,
or Utility.
You should also select the action (Do nothing, Copy, or Move) for each of MIDI and Audio.
When copying or moving MIDI data, if you enable the Merge with existing data on tack option, the MIDI data in the
destination track will be preserved and merged with the incoming MIDI data from the source track. If this option is disabled, the
MIDI data in the destination track will be replaced with the incoming MIDI data.
There are also options to include continuous controllers, pitch bend, patch changes, and lyrics when copying or moving MIDI
data.
Examples of uses include:
- Loading a MIDI file to the Melody track, and copying the bass part to the Bass track, and then freezing the Bass track. This
allows you to setup a MIDI file with the same tracks as Band-in-a-Box uses. Note: the command automatically freezes the
destination track after the copy.
- Getting the RealChart to play, to double a RealTracks part on another instrument. To do this, generate a RealTracks for piano
on the piano track. Then copy the piano track to the strings track and set a strings patch. You now hear a RealTracks piano,
with the strings doubling the piano part.
- Replacing a RealChart with a MIDI version. If a RealChart is available, copy the RealChart as in the example above. Then
eliminate the RealTracks on the original track. You now have a RealChart MIDI part playing instead of the RealTracks, and
you can edit that part etc. as with any MIDI track.
Nudge Chords/Melody
In the Edit menu, the Nudge Chords/Melody allows moving a range of chords by any number of bars/beats. For example, let’s
say that you have entered a complete song chord progression, and you then realize that all of the chords starting at bar 23 are 1
beat too late (maybe due to a time signature change). You can move all of the chords 1 beat earlier, by setting the nudge at bar
23, beat 1, and duration of the nudge to -1 (minus 1) beats.
You can nudge chords and/or Melody/Soloist tracks.

Unfold (Convert to 1 BIG chorus)

Choose Edit | Song Form | Unfold (convert to one BIG chorus) to unfold a multi-chorus song into one BIG chorus.

becomes
If you have a song with 3 choruses and want to convert it to a single large chorus, this command unfolds the song into just that;
one BIG chorus. This is useful for customizing a song with style, patch or tempo changes in different verses.

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Fold (Convert 1 chorus to multiple)
A “Fold song” routine converts a song with a single large chorus to multiple smaller choruses with optional tag ending. If you
have imported a MIDI file, you might have a file that is 96 bars long, but really consists of 3 choruses of 32 bars each. You can
convert this to a 32-bar song by using the Edit | Song Form | Fold menu item, including inserting tag endings, and 2-bar
endings.

becomes
Add Repeats and 1st/2nd Endings
For this tutorial, we will be using demos from the Documentation\Tutorials\Tutorial – Repeats and Endings folder. Open the
Song “Miles1 Tutorial (no repeats yet)” from this folder. You will see that this is a 1-32 bar form. There are no repeats and
endings entered for this song. We will be adding them now.
When you open a song, you will notice some “Form Marker” features that happen for any Band-in-a-Box song.

Repeat symbols are drawn at the beginning and end of the entire form (bars 1, 32 in this song) and “end” is written on bar 33,
which is the ending. Bars past the end of the song are colored gray. These form markers are present for every song, unless you
disable them by Options | Preferences | Display. These are not the type of repeats/endings we’re referring to here, however. The
repeats/endings we are talking about now occur during the form, and are the 1st/2nd endings, DS al Coda and other repeat types
that you see on a typical lead sheet.
So, in our song “Miles1 Tutorial (no repeats yet),” we can have a look at it and see if there are any repeats/endings. It appears
from looking at the Chord Sheet that this 32-bar form consists of two 16 bar sections, with a 1st ending at bar 9, and a 2nd
ending at bar 25. So now we’d like Band-in-a-Box to display it like that, with the first and second ending markings. Since we
want to insert the 1st/2nd ending on bar 9, we right-click on the Chord Sheet on bar 9 and select Repeats/Codas/1st-2nd
Endings. We then see the Edit Repeats and Endings dialog.
Click on the 1st/2nd endings radio button and enter the
following.
- Repeat begins at bar 1.
- 1st ending begins at bar 9.
- 1st ending lasts for 8 bars.
- Type of Repeat/Ending = 1st/2nd endings.
By entering this data we’ve defined the complete 1st and
2nd ending. If the 1st ending begins at bar 9 and lasts for 8
bars, the 2nd ending must begin at bar 17+8=25 (there’s an
8-bar repeated section from bar 1 to 8).
Now, this was a pre-existing song, and it already has all of
the bars laid out. So, we make sure that we don’t select the
Generate (insert) new bars checkbox.

Click on [OK-Make Repeat], and the repeat gets made and the Chord Sheet redraws with the 1st/2ndrepeat showing.

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 Make sure you have Fake Sheet mode selected on the Chord Sheet.

As you can see there is a 1st ending at bar 9. At bar 16 there is a repeat symbol, indicating that the form goes back to bar 1 for 8
bars, and then will go to the bar after bar 16 for the 2nd ending. The 2nd ending is marked there. The bar # is 25, because the
bars are numbered in linear fashion, and it is the 25th bar of the song as it would be played. Then the song goes to the end,
which is bar 32.
Now we can see a LINEAR view of the same song, similar to the way it was before we put the 1st/2nd endings on it.
To do this, deselect the Fake Sheet checkbox on the main page. You will then see the song like this.

This shows all of the 32 bars, including the bars that are part of the repeat – these are highlighted in gray. Exposing these bars
shows the linear view of the song, the way the song would be played. It also allows you to enter custom information for any of
the bars, including the bars in the “gray area.” For example, if you wanted the chord at bar 21 to be an Em9 instead of an Em7,
just type it in, even though it’s in the repeated section leading to the 2nd ending.
You can toggle between the 2 views for the traditional lead sheet view with the Fake Sheet mode, and the “normal” (linear)
view with Fake Sheet mode OFF.
Buttons in the Edit Repeats and Endings dialog
The [Options] button opens s the Display Options dialog, which includes an option to globally enable/disable the display of
repeats and endings.
The [Show Form] button in displays a summary of the form of the song as examined by Band-in-a-Box. This is useful for
analyzing the form of the song, in case you want to add your own repeats and endings manually, and want a quick summary of
the form. Band-in-a-Box shows you the form in 2-bar sections. A typical AABA song might display a form like this.
0, 1, 2, 3
0, 1, 2, 4
5, 6, 7, 8
0, 1, 2, 4
Each of these numbers represents a unique 2-bar section of the song. You can see the first section (0, 1, 2, 3) is similar to the
second section (0, 1, 2, 4); in fact, they differ only in the last 2 bars. So, this would be a good candidate for a 1st/2nd ending.
Also, the last A section of 0, 1, 2, 4 is identical to the 2nd A section, so would be a good candidate for a DC al Coda symbol.
When you press the [Auto-Find] button, Band-in-a-Box will examine the song and try to detect any repeats in the song.
The [Edit List] button shows you a list of repeats or endings that have been entered in the song and allows you to edit them.
The [Tag Ending] button opens the Song Setting dialog where you can set a tag ending.
The [Delete All] button will delete all the repeats that have been entered in the current song.
Set Time Signature (range of bars)
Under the Edit | Set Time Signature (range of bars) menu item, you can assign a specific time signature at any bar and apply it
to a range of bars, as often as you want.

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Transpose

The Edit | Transpose submenu lets you transpose the entire song by a number of semitones, or specify a range to transpose. To
transpose part of a song, simply highlight the area you wish to transpose and select Transpose From.. To.. in the submenu.
When you have confirmed the starting bar and the number of bars you wish to transpose,
click on the “Transpose to Key” area and select the destination key.

Settings for Current Bar

The number of beats per bar, tempo changes, patch, style, and harmony changes can be made by selecting the Settings For
Current Bar option on the Edit menu or by pressing F5 after you have selected a bar to edit.
Settings Apply to: You can specify the changes you make to
happen for every chorus and/or a specific chorus. This applies
to bar settings like tempo changes, style changes, RealDrums
changes, patch changes, volume changes, and harmony
changes.
Bar #: You can change the bar to edit without existing the
dialog.
# Beats This Bar: The initial time signature of the song is
determined by the style (e.g., Jazz =4/4, Waltz =3/4). In some
songs you will want to change the time signature at a certain
bar. For example, you might want a single bar of 2/4, or 8 bars
of 3/4 time. This option allows a change of time signature
during a song. This option allows a change of time signature
during a song. The change takes place at the beginning of the
bar and continues until a new time signature change is
specified. You can select from 1 to 4 beats per bar. Time
signature changes are printed on the Notation/Lead Sheet.

Example: A song in 4/4 time with a single bar of 6/4 time

The maximum # beats per bar is =4, so we will split the 6/4
bar into 2 bars, a 4/4 bar and a 2/4 bar. Insert a # beats per bar
=2 at the beginning of the 2/4 bar, then restore the time
signature to 4/4 by assigning # beats per bar =4 for the next
bar.
Tip: Instead of using this dialog, you can use hotkeys to set the time signature for the current bar. Just type a time signature (4/4, 3/4, 2/4, or
1/4), and it will be entered to the current bar. Typing 0/4 clears the time signature from the current bar.
Tempo Change to: If you want to change the tempo at a certain bar of the song, then use this dialog to type in the new tempo in
beats per minute. The tempo change takes effect at the beginning of the bar and remains until a new tempo change at another bar
is inserted. Alternatively, you can specify a percentage change in tempo.

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Key Signature Change: You can have multiple keys in the same song with the new key signature shown on notation. Select the
new key signature you want from the combo list and you will see the new key signature drawn on the notation at that bar.
Style Changes at This Bar: To choose a new style for this bar you can select the style from the StylePicker by pressing the
[.STY] button or from the C:\bb\Styles folder by pressing [Open]. When chosen, the name of the style change for the current
bar will be displayed. Click on the [Clear STY] button if you want no style change to occur. Individual styles have instrument
patches assigned to them. Send Patch changes with style change allows the option to send those assigned patches at the
current bar. If you want to keep the patches that had been previously used in the song, deselect this option.
Note: If the track type changes by the style change, the track will be silent from the current bar. For example, when the style with a MIDI piano
track is selected for the song, if you select a style with a RealTrack piano track at the current bar, the piano track will be silent after the style
change.
You can have multiple RealDrums styles within a song. You can either enter a change of RealDrums, or enter a change of style,
which will also result in a change of RealDrums. The name of the new RealDrums style is displayed. The [Clear RD] button
deletes the RealDrums change.
You can insert a specific RealTracks instrument at any bar to create a customized performance. You can change specific
RealTracks without changing the style. For example, if you want to change an Acoustic Bass comping part to an Acoustic Bass
Solo at Chorus 4, Bar 1, you can do this. Press the [RealTracks] button and you will see the RealTracks Changes dialog where
you can choose which tracks you want to have RealTracks changes on. Select a track, press the down arrow button, and select a
RealTracks from the list of available RealTracks.
Notation - Start a New Line: You can set the notation to start a new line at any bar. This allows you to customize the number
of bars on each line and is used in conjunction with the Notation Options settings of bars-per-line on the notation. This feature
works for chord sections.
Allow Drum Fill: When this is enabled, you’ll get a drum fill at the current bar even if the following bar does not have a part
marker. If you are at a bar before a part marker and you don’t want a drum fill, then disable this option.
Red Line on Chord Sheet: Any changes made in this dialog will be recorded on the Chord Sheet indicated by a line below the
bar number, but you can hide the line using this option. The “All” checkbox applies to all songs and it’s enabled by default. The
“Auto/No/Yes” dropdown applies to the current song only and overrides the global setting. If you select “No” when “All” is
checked, you won’t see the red lines in the current song. If you select “Yes” when “All” is unchecked, you will see the red lines
in the current song. If “Auto” is selected, the global setting will apply to the current song.
Instrument Changes at This Bar: Volume and patch changes can be made for instrument parts and the Audio track at any bar.
Volume changes can be specified values or fade up/down amounts. There are presets to mute or restore the volume level for a
part. Patch selections include patches on higher banks, which are accessed with the [+] button.
Harmony Changes at This Bar: You set a harmony to begin or end at this bar for the Melody or Soloist/Thru track. If you
choose < no harmony >, a harmony that was previously playing will stop. Set a specific beat for the harmony to begin, for
example on a lead-in or pickup note at the end of a bar. You can also switch to different harmonies in the middle of your song.
[Reset ALL Bars] removes any settings you have changed for all bars.
[Reset Bar] removes any settings you have changed for the current bar.
[UserTracks Development] opens a dialog for advanced settings when making UserTracks.
[Print Summary] opens a text report of all settings in the song that have been made in the dialog. This summary is also
available from the Song Memo dialog.
Any changes made for the current bar will remain in effect from that bar forward until new changes are recorded or until the
next chorus if you have set the changes to apply only to the current chorus.
Song Memo
A song memo of up to 2,000 characters may be added.
Clicking on the [Memo] toolbar button launches the Song Memo dialog, where you can type or edit a memo about
the song and select the “auto-open” option that will show the memo each time the song is loaded.

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The dialog has an option to close automatically during playback. When the Close w/ play option is set, the dialog will close
when the song starts to play and not reopen when it stops. This setting, in combination with the Auto-open setting, ensures that
the memo opens when the song opens, but closes during playback. The font for the song memo is size selectable.
Type your memo in the right side of the dialog and press the [Update] button.
If the Summary checkbox is selected, the dialog displays a full summary of the song (title/tempo/patches used in the song), as
well as other special features such as substyle patch changes or harmonies.
If the song contains a video or audio memo, you can play it with the [Video Memo] or [Audio Memo] button. You can add a
video memo to your song by creating a video file (wmv, mp4, m4v) with the same name as your song file followed by
_VideoMemo. For example, for mysong.mgu, save a video memo as mysong_VideoMemo.wmv. Similarly, you can add an
audio memo to your song by creating an audio file (wma, mp3, wav) with the same name as your song file followed by
_AudioMemo.
Tip: The songs in the C:\bb\Songs and Lessons\101 Riffs - Country Guitar with Audio Memos folder contain audio memos. Open a song and
press the [Audio Memo] button in the Song Memo dialog to listen to an audio memo.
Press the [Bar Summary] button to see a report of any changes to settings that are programmed in the Edit Settings for
Current Bar dialog (F5).

View and Print Notation

Notation Window
Open the Notation window with the [Notation] toolbar button. You will see standard notation on the grand staff. There
are 3 notation modes in Band-in-a-Box, selected with the buttons in the Notation window toolbar.
The Standard Notation mode can be used for notation display and the entry of chords and lyrics. Just type a chord name
and it will be inserted at the current time line location (the black vertical stripe just under the tool bar.)

Click on this button to go to Editable Notation mode. Chords, lyrics, and text can be entered as in the Standard Notation
mode; the Editable Notation mode also permits point-and-click entry of notes and rests as well as drag-and-drop editing.

Click on this button to switch to the Staff Roll Notation mode. In addition to the editing features of the Editable Notation
mode, in Staff Roll mode the velocity (vertical line) and duration (horizontal line) of notes can be edited with the mouse.

Chapter 6: Making Songs 155

Lead Sheet Window
The Lead Sheet window displays a full page of notation with lots of options such as a selectable number of staves per page,
clefs to show, font size, margins, scroll-ahead notation, and lyrics. You can set it to a big font size and read the notation from
across the room. Since the notation scrolls ahead, you can read ahead without waiting for a page turn.
You can launch the Lead Sheet window from the main screen by pressing the [Lead Sheet] button (or Alt+W).
The Lead Sheet window is also accessible from the Notation window.

Multiple tracks of notation can be viewed together in the Lead Sheet window. To add tracks to display, click on the [+] button
to the right of the track selector button, and select the tracks in the order that they should appear from top to bottom. Multiple
tracks can also be printed like a score.

Printing
Click on the [Print] button in either the Notation window or the Lead Sheet window to print your song as sheet music.
This launches the Print Options dialog with a full range of options including “Number of Copies” to print and “Print Range.”
The options are fully described in the online Help and in the Notation chapter of this manual.

Saving Songs
Once you have made a song (or have made changes to a song), you will probably want to save the song by clicking on
the [Save] button. You can also choose Save from the File menu, or press F2 or Ctrl+S.
Use [Save As] to save a song with a different name or in a different location. (Songs that are “Saved As” with a
different name have the new name added to the Recently Played song dialog.) The [Save As] button menu includes
additional options for saving a song.

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Save Song with Patches & Harmony (Alt+F2) allows you to save a song with custom patch selections plus volume, reverb,
bank, harmony, Soloist and RealDrums. You can also choose to freeze tracks when saved. See the following topic, Saving Song
Settings.
Songs will always be saved with last file extension letter of “U,” regardless of whether they are made with a built-in style or not.
For example, if you make a song with ZZJAZZ.STY as the style (one of the 24 built-in styles), early versions of BB would save
the song as MySong.MG1, where the “1” indicates Style #1 – ZZJAZZ. Now it is saved as MySong.MGU. Older songs loaded
in with .MG1 will still be re-saved as MG1 to prevent duplicate song files.
Note: Make sure to save your songs as Band-in-a-Box song files (not only as MIDI files). The Band-in-a-Box song files contain the names of
the chords, etc. and are much smaller than MIDI files.
If you have an audio file associated with the song, the audio portion will be saved separately, and will be called MySong.WAV.
Saving Song Settings
By default, all settings are saved with songs unless the “Save all Settings with Songs” box is unchecked (off) in the Assign
Instruments and Harmonies to Song dialog (Alt+F2 or File | Save Special | Save Song with Patches and Harmony).
This includes RealTracks, RealDrums, and RealTracks solos as well as Patches, Volume, Audio and MIDI Reverb, Tone,
Panning, Bank, Harmony (both Melody and Thru), and the Soloist.
If you have some custom items that you don’t want to save with the song, you can disable the “Save all Settings” option and use
this dialog to save only the settings you want to keep.

To save certain patches with a song:

a) Choose the patch (instrument) that you would like from the drop-down patch list. Leave the other instruments at = 0 for no
patch change. Remember that the General MIDI numbering system is always used for instruments.
or
b) Press the [Fill w/Patches] button. This will fill the patch number boxes with the current patch settings showing on your main
screen instrument panel.
Use the checkboxes to choose instruments you want to save and whether you want to save the Melody and Thru harmony
assignments and the Soloist selected to play on the song. You can also save the instruments as “On” or “Off” for each song. For
example, you could have a song with no piano part.
Tip: You can optionally save these kinds of settings with your songs for added realism. You can, for example, make a song with the piano a
little quieter than usual, or add reverb to the melody patch, or pan the bass to one side, etc.
Use the Frozen checkbox to put the track into a frozen state where it gets saved with the specific arrangement and won’t be
overwritten by Band-in-a-Box. You can still edit the frozen tracks.

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Select the For this song only, force MIDI drums checkbox if you always want MIDI drums, not RealDrums, used with the
song.
Select For this song only, use this RealDrum style to assign a specific RealDrums style to your song. Press the [RD] button to
choose the RealDrums style.
This dialog is usually used in combination with and not instead of saving a song. To save a song with this embedded
information to your hard drive, you therefore:
1. Choose File | Save Special | Save with Patches and Harmony (Alt+F2).
2. Choose the patch and other settings that you want to embed.
3. Press the [Save] button to save the song to disk.
Note that if you have set a MIDI patch for one of the instrument parts (bass/drums/piano/guitar/strings) and you load in another
style, Band-in-a-Box will overwrite your patches with the style patches. If it didn’t do that, you would be stuck with the same
patches regardless of the style. So, if you want a certain patch for a track, set it after you have loaded in the style that you want.
Saving Frozen Tracks
Any track (MIDI or RealTrack) can be frozen. When frozen, it won’t get changed or re-generated. This saves time when
replaying previous songs and allows you to freeze an arrangement that you like. If you freeze the whole song, you don’t have to
wait at all for the song to regenerate. Next time you play, it is ready to go.
All tracks can be edited and saved. MIDI tracks for bass, drums, piano, guitar and strings can be edited, and saved with the file.
If you freeze a track, edits can be still made to it, because it is only frozen from Band-in-a-Box making changes to it (you can
still edit it), so that the MIDI track will be saved to the file. So, you can customize the bass track to match a certain song, and
save it with a frozen bass track, so that Band-in-a-Box won’t overwrite your edits. This includes RealCharts – if you wanted to
edit the notation of a RealTracks solo for example.
To edit a MIDI track (bass, drums, piano, guitar, strings), or the MIDI part of a RealTracks that has a RealChart (MIDI
transcribed solo), simply open the Notation window or Piano Roll window and click on the track and edit it. Make sure to
Freeze the track by pressing the [Freeze] button and choosing Freeze for that track, or right-clicking on the instrument at the top
of the screen and choosing Freeze. Now your edited tracks will save with the song.
Save Songs as Medley - The Medley Maker
Would you like Band-in-a-Box to make a medley of various Band-in-a-Box songs (MGU)? This is easily done with the Medley
Maker. Inside the Medley Maker, simply select the songs that you want, and Band-in-a-Box will make the medley for you.
To open the Medley Maker, click on the [Song Form] menu button on the Tools toolbar and select Medley Maker in
the menu, or choose File | Import | Medley Maker.

A medley is not simply joining songs together. A good medley uses a “transition” area between songs to introduce the new style,
key, and tempo. The Medley Maker automatically creates a nice transition area for you, writing in chords that would smoothly
modulate to the next song, style, key, and tempo!
To make a medley,
- add songs by pressing the [Append] or [Insert] button.
- remove songs using [Delete].

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- change the order of the songs using [Move Up], [Move Down].
- for any song, customize using the Settings for this song group box, including changing the style, tempo, key, start bar,
number of bars, and number of transition bars. Press [Update] after customizing to see your changes in the medley list.
- choose the type of information to include with your medley (styles, key signature changes, lyrics, etc.) in the Include with
Songs group box.
- choose a number of transition bars (the default is 4). Transition bars are automatic bars of chords inserted by Band-in-a-Box
to transition from one song to the other, generating an “outro” and an “intro” between songs.
The current size and time of your medley is displayed in the Length label. The maximum size of the medley is 255 bars (about
7 minutes).
Press the [Make Medley NOW] button to generate a medley.
Tip: Your medley will use RealDrums if you have RealDrums enabled. If so, you should keep the various tempos of the songs within a close
range. Because the quality of the RealDrums stretching would go down if a song in the medley had a much lower tempo than the previous
one, it is tempos that slow down to avoid.

Email Song as Attachments

You can email a song (.MGU or .SGU), style (.STY and .STX) or rendered audio file (m4a, wma, wav, or mp3) as attachments.
Press the [Save As] button and choose Email song file(s) as attachment(s) to open the Email Song dialog.

The dialog allows you to choose what files you want to email:
- the song (.MGU or .SGU)
- the style (.STY and .STX)
- a rendered audio file (choice of m4a, wma, wav, mp3)
Saving as Video and Upload to YouTube
You can save your song as a video that you can upload to YouTube or work with in video programs. You can make a video for
the Chord Sheet or the Notation window that shows the highlighted chords or notes moving as the song plays.
To use this feature, press the [Save as] button and choose Save as Video from the pulldown menu.

At the top left corner, choose the item (Chord Sheet or Notation track) to include in a video.
Enable Custom dimensions if you want to choose the width and height of the video. If this is disabled, the video dimensions
will match the Chord Sheet as it appears.
A higher number you set for Frames Per Second will result in a large file and the rendering process will take longer.
You can select a specific Codec to encode the video. If “Auto” is selected, Band-in-a-Box will choose a compatible codec.
If Include Title is enabled, the video of the Chord Sheet will have a black bar at the top containing the title shown below.
The Scroll Ahead option makes video of the Chord Sheet scroll so the bar that is currently playing will always be at the top of
the video (i.e., more bars ahead will be visible).
Click on the [OK - Render Video] button to start rendering the video. The video will continue to render unless you press the
[Cancel Rendering] button. When the rendering is done, a message will show and you will be able to press the [Upload to
YouTube] or [Show Video File].

Chapter 6: Making Songs 159

 Note: A special use of this feature is to combine a video RealTracks with the corresponding notation in a single video. This creates an
educational video, which shows the actual performance with notation/tab, playing over your chord progression! To do this, right-click on the
Master button or one of the track buttons at the top of the main screen and select Render Video(s) from the menu.

Saving Song as MusicXML

Band-in-a-Box supports MusicXML so you can easily export your Band-in-a-Box songs into notation programs such as Finale,
Sibelius, and Guitar Pro, while retaining the chords from the Band-in-a-Box song.
To save the song as a MusicXML file, press the [Save As] button and select Save Song as MusicXML file or go to menu
File | Save Special | Save Song as MusicXML file. When BB File Save dialog opens, specify a file name and the
location, and press the [Save] button.
This will open the Save XML File dialog.

First, select a track that you want to save in the XML file. To select multiple tracks, Ctrl+click on the track. Then, select items
that you want to save in the XML file.
The Track-specific settings area lets you choose clefs to include for each track.
There is also an option to include a Tablature.
The Save tab as 2 separate parts (tracks) option will save two parts: one for a notation track and the other for a tablature.
If you enable the Save in Fake Sheet Mode option, repeated sections will be hidden.
The Save exact chord text option allows you to save the exact chord text, rather than relying mainly on saving the chord type
and degrees.
Press [OK], and the file will be ready to be opened in your notation program.
Saving Song as ABC Notation File
ABC notation is the simple text-based notation system used by musicians worldwide to store chords, melody, and lyrics of
songs. You can find out more information about the songs and ABC notation at abcnotation.com.
To save the song as an ABC Notation file, press the [Save As] button and select Save as ABC Notation file, or go to
menu File | Save Special | Save Song as ABC Notation file.
Select a track to save: Click on the track that you want to save in
the file. This applies if “Include Notes” is enabled.
Include Chords: Check this to save chords in the file.
Include Notes: When this option is checked, notes on the selected
track will be saved.
Simplified Chord Names: When this is enabled, complicated
chords will be written as simplified names. For example, D7#5#9
will be written as D7.
Save in Fake Sheet Mode: Enable the fake sheet mode if you
want to save repeats and endings in the file.

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[Copy to clipboard] will copy the file to the clipboard. You can then paste it into other programs.
Press the [Save as File] button, and then you type a name and select the destination in your hard drive.
Saving Song(s) as Simple Text
You can save the song, including the chords and other information (title, key, tempo, form, style, etc.), as a text file.
Press the [Save As] button and select Save Song(s) to Text on clipboard or file(s), or go to menu File | Save Special |
Save Song(s) to Text on clipboard or file(s). This will open the Song(s) to Text dialog.
In the dialog, check the items you want to include in text. By default, the song metadata (title, key, tempo, form, style, etc.) and
memo will be included, but if you don’t want them, you can exclude them. Select the Whole Song mode, and press the [Save as
.txt file] button. If you want to copy the song to the clipboard instead of saving it as a text file, press the [OK - Copy to
Clipboard] button instead.
The dialog also has an option to copy or save all songs in a specific folder. Select the Batch save all songs in this folder mode,
press the folder icon to select the folder, and choose the option to include subfolders of that folder. Also select the destination
with the Batch Save As option. You can copy all songs to the clipboard, save them as individual text files in the same folder,
save them as individual text files in another folder, or save them as a single text file. Then, press [OK - Batch Save TXT] to
copy or save the songs.

Saving MIDI and Karaoke Files

Your Band-in-a-Box songs can be saved as Type 0 and Type 1 MIDI files as well as Karaoke files and General MIDI
lyrics. Click on the [.MID] button to launch the dialog.

Select the type of MIDI file you want to save in the MIDI file type combo box.
- By default, Band-in-a-Box writes Type 1 multiple track Standard MIDI Files.
- You can also save Type 0 MIDI files. They have all of the parts on a single track and are used by many hardware modules and
other devices that play MIDI files because they are simpler to play (since they only have 1 track).
- Karaoke files (.KAR) are a special type of sing-along MIDI file with text events for the lyrics and a specific order for the
tracks.
- There is an option to write the MIDI file with separate tracks for each drum instrument.
Save Options
[OK – Save as File] saves a MIDI file to the folder you select. You can then load the MIDI file into your sequencer for further
editing.
[Copy to Clipboard] copies the MIDI file to the Windows® clipboard as a standard MIDI file. This feature allows clipboard
enabled programs to Edit | Paste the Band-in-a-Box MIDI file directly into the program. For example, you can clipboard-paste
Band-in-a-Box MIDI data to PowerTracks Pro Audio, Cakewalk, Musicator, etc.

Chapter 6: Making Songs 161

The Melody/Soloist (with harmonies) will be written to the MIDI file. If you’ve set a Melody or Soloist/Thru Harmony, that
MIDI data will be written to the MIDI file also. See the settings in the Options | Preferences dialog to control how the harmony
is written to a MIDI file.
The Chord Sheet part markers are written to the MIDI files. They can be read by PowerTracks Pro Audio and by Band-in-a-Box
if re-importing the MIDI file with the Chord Wizard.
Set range of bars for MIDI files
When making a MIDI file, you can select a range of bars to be included. Highlight any range of bars on the Chord Sheet, and the
MIDI file will be made for just that range.
Alternatively, you can make a MIDI file for a partial range by pressing the [Set Range] button.
Batch convert a folder of songs to MIDI files
You can convert an entire folder of Band-in-a-Box songs to MIDI files with a single command and choose the resultant file
names to be based on either the file name or the song title name.
Press the [Batch mode] button in the MIDI file dialog to access this feature.

MIDI File Options

Press the [Options] button to set custom MIDI file settings. The MIDI File Options dialog is also available from the [MIDI
File] button in the Preferences dialog (Options | Preferences).
Include patch changes will include the patch (instrument) changes.
Include part marker text markers writes descriptive text part markers to the
MIDI file if selected. If this option is selected, the resulting MIDI file will have
text markers. Then, in PowerTracks Pro Audio or RealBand (in the Bars window)
you will see the descriptive text markers.

For example, at bar 3, there is an “A, Chorus 1” marker, to indicate a part marker
“a” substyle and chorus 1. Text markers are also read in from MIDI files and
displayed as Section Markers on the Notation.
Include 2-bar lead-in: If you don’t want to create a MIDI file containing the first
2 bars of the 1—2—1-2-3-4 count-in you can select this option. If there is a
Melody pickup, then the 2-bar lead-in will remain in the file.
Write lyrics in: The GM specification has agreed upon specific requirements for
writing lyrics in MIDI files, which are supported, so that lyrics that you save in
Band-in-a-Box should show up identically in other MIDI programs. We
recommend the GM format.
Write section text as text events: Your section text can be included in the MIDI
file as text events.
Include volume/chorus/panning: This will include the volume, reverb, chorus,
and panning settings that you have made in the Band-in-a-Box synth window in
your MIDI file.
Include forced channel meta event: This will include the forced channel META event. It is recognized by PowerTracks Pro
Audio and other PG Music Inc. programs only.
Include guitar position controller: This will insert a controller 84 which PG Music uses to indicate the fret position. Since
some synths also use this for Portamento Control, you should use this setting with caution.
Write Soloist part on channel 5: Normally the program writes the Soloist part on channel 8. Since that could also mean the left
hand of a piano track using the convention of channel 8/9 for piano, this option allows you to write it on channel 5 instead.

162 Chapter 6: Making Songs

Write harmony: If set to YES, the harmony will be written to the MIDI file. If not, just the melody will be written to the MIDI
file.
Write harmony on separate tracks: If set to YES, the harmony will be written to the MIDI file on separate tracks for each
voice. You could use this to print out individual parts to your printer for example.
Write Guitar part on 6 channels: If set to YES, the styles that are Intelligent Guitar Styles will result in a MIDI file that has
the Guitar part written on 6 channels (11-16). Then, when you read it in PowerTracks, or another sequencer that uses the
convention of 11-16 for guitar strings, the guitar part will display correctly.
For partial range MIDI files, chop off sustaining notes at end turns off notes that would be “hung” because their associated
Note Off event does not fall within the range of bars saved to the MIDI file.
Also generate MIDI Drums in the MIDI file can be unchecked if your song uses RealDrums and you don’t want MIDI drums
included in the MIDI file.
Save RealCharts in MIDI files: Enable this to save RealChrarts MIDI data in MIDI files so you can study the performance in
other programs.
Resolution for MIDI file: By default, Band-in-a-Box saves MIDI files with 120 PPQ resolution. This is about 4 millisecond
resolution, which is very good resolution. In our listening tests, people couldn’t tell the difference between files at 120 PPQ and
files at higher PPQ (like 960 etc.). But if you prefer to work in a DAW at a higher PPQ, you can have Band-in-a-Box output at
the resolution that you want.
Recording to External Hardware Sequencers
Many people use Band-in-a-Box in live situations. If you are unable to bring your computer with you, a good alternative is a
hardware sequencer or a keyboard with a built-in sequencer that reads Standard MIDI Files. To transfer songs to the Sound
Brush, follow these simple steps:
­ Make a MIDI file of the song by pressing the button.
­ Either save the file directly to a floppy disk or copy it to the floppy from your hard drive.
­ The Sound Brush is then able to read the IBM formatted disk with MIDI files on it.
MGX Files
When a MIDI file is loaded onto the Melody (or Soloist) track, the Track Type for the Melody (or Soloist) gets set to Multi-
Track. When the file is saved, the extension will be MGX, allowing you to easily identify the Band-in-a-Box songs that you
have that contain entire MIDI files.
Saving Audio Files
If you have recorded an acoustic instrument, Band-in-a-Box can render the MIDI data to an audio file and merge it with your
live audio recording to produce a complete digital audio file.
Press the [.WAV] button and choose Export Song as Audio File from the menu. This will open the Render to Audio
File dialog.

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Format: Select the format of the audio file: WAV, WMA, WMA (lossless), M4A, or MP3.
Note: If you are using Windows® XP or Vista, the M4A option requires Apple® QuickTime® Library for Windows®, available from
www.apple.com.
Channels: When “Auto” is selected, individual tracks will be rendered as either mono or stereo, depending on the original
source. You can also force to render all tracks as stereo or mono.
Bit Depth: Select 16, 24, or 32 bit.
Sample Rate: Select 44.1, 48, or 96 kHz.
Quality: The bit rate selection is available for compressed audio files (WMA, M4A, and MP3).
Normalize mix: Enable this option if you want the audio file normalized. Normalizing boosts the volume to a maximum level
without distortion, but it takes longer to render.
One file per track: If this option is enabled, you will get separate audio files, one for each track.
Include Mix: If this is enabled, a mix of all tracks will be rendered to a separate file.
Normalize individual tracks: Enable this option if you want each track normalized individually. This applies if the “One file
per track” option is enabled or when you drag and drop an individual track out of Band-in-a-Box.
Individual tracks flat, dry, and center: If this option is enabled, each track will render ignoring its Mixer settings (Volume,
Pan, Reverb, and Tone), and the default settings will be used instead. The default settings are Volume=0 db, Pan = 0, Reverb= 0,
Tone = 0). If this option is disabled and there is no lead-in in the Melody track, the lead-in will be skipped in the rendered file.
Include 2-bar lead-in: If this option is disabled and there is no lead-in in the Melody track, the lead-in will be skipped in the
rendered file.
Include drums lead-in: Enable this if you want to include the drum count-in the rendered file.
Include ACID info: If you are rendering to a WAV audio file, you can include ACID information such as tempo, key, and time
signature. The ACID information can be read by many DAW programs.
Render using highest quality tempo stretching: If this option is enabled, the highest quality tempo stretching setting for
élastique will be used when rendering. You may be using a lower quality setting for playback in order to increase performance,
but this is not necessary when rendering to an audio file.
Delay at start (seconds): This allows you to add silence in seconds at the start of the audio file.
Delay at end (seconds): You can also add silence in seconds at the end of the audio file.
Save in current song: If this option is checked, the Save dialog will default to the current song file’s directory. Otherwise, it
will default to the previously used directory.
[Burn to Audio CD] will open the MiniBurn program, which allows you to burn your own CD.
[Batch] allows you to render all songs in a folder to audio files.
To render the song, press the [Render] button and select the name and destination for the audio file.
Batch convert songs to audio files (MP3, WAV, or WMA)
Do you need to convert an entire folder of Band-in-a-Box songs to audio files? This can be done easily by a single command
with an option to name the resultant audio files based either on the original file name or the song title name.
Press the [Batch] button in the Render to Audio File dialog to open the Batch create audio files dialog.
Choose whether you want the filenames to be based on the filename or the
song title.
With the Suffix to add to filenames option, you can choose a suffix for each
file name. For example, if the suffix is _Demo, then MySong.MGU will render
as MySong_Demo.WAV.
Select the file type for the output file from the Audio File Type group box.
When rendering to WMA or MP3 files, there is an option to also write WAV
files.
The Reset synth after each file option resets the VSTi/DXi synth after each
render. This ensures that no audio (stuck notes etc.) from previous file is
retained.
Press the [Go - Create audio files] button to render all of the Band-in-a-Box
files in the folder to the selected audio format.

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Burn your own Audio-CD
Press the [Burn to Audio CD] button in the Render to Audio File dialog to launch the MiniBurn program and burn your wave
file to a CD, which will then play in a standard CD player.
Note: This feature uses your computer’s CD or DVD drive. If your drive is not recognized by MiniBurn you may need to download and install
the latest drivers from the manufacturer’s web site. As an alternative, you can always burn the rendered Band-in-a-Box file to disc using the
software supplied with your CD/DVD drive or with Windows® Media Player.

If launched from Band-in-a-Box, the current BIAB song has automatically been added to the Burn List. If MiniBurn is running
standalone, you must add Wave files to the Burn List.
Burn List
Burn list files are displayed in MiniBurn’s central file list region.
Column 1- Track Number
Column 2- Path and name of Wave files
Column 3- Play time of each Track, formatted in minutes:seconds:frames
Burn Time indicates the sum of all the burn list track times.
Avail Time indicates the time available on the blank CD-R in the CD Burner. If no disc has been inserted, Avail Time reads
“No Disc.” If an unwriteable disc has been inserted (CD-ROM disc or already-finalized CD-R, CD-RW), Avail Time reads
“UnWritable.”
Add Files to the Burn List
Wave files can be added three ways:
1. Use the menu item File/Add Track…
2. Right-click on the Burn List and select “Add Track” from the pop-up menu.
3. Drag wave files into the MiniBurn window from an open Windows® folder view.
Note: Only Wave files are accepted, and Wave files must be 16 bit stereo, 44.1 K sample rate (the standard format for Audio CDs).
Remove Files from the Burn List
Files can be removed two ways:
1. Left-click to select a track, then use the menu item File | Remove Selected Track.
2. Left-click to select a track, then right-click on the Burn List and pick “Remove Track” from the pop-up menu.
Clear All Files from the Burn List
The list can be cleared two ways:
1. Use the menu item File | Clear All Tracks from Burn List.
2. Right-click on the Burn List and select “Clear All Tracks” from the pop-up menu.
Change the Order of Tracks in the Burn List
Left-click on the “Trk” column of the file you wish to move and drag the file to a new location in the list.
Audition Tracks in the Burn List
Left-click to select a track in the Burn List, then right-click and pick “Play Selected File” from the pop-up menu.
To stop playback, right-click on the Burn List and pick “Stop” from the pop-up menu.

Chapter 6: Making Songs 165

It is not necessary to stop a wave file before playing a new wave file. It is not necessary to stop playback before burning.
Playback stops automatically before burning begins.
Burner Controls
Eject: Open the drive tray using the menu item CD Recorder | Eject. Of course, you can also press the eject button on the CD
drive.
Close the Drive Tray: Close the drive tray using the menu item CD Recorder | Close Tray. You can also press the eject button
on the CD drive, or gently push the drive tray to close it. Some manufacturers advise against closing the tray with a push.
Select a Burner
If the computer contains multiple burners, select a drive with the Burner drop-down menu. If a computer doesn’t have any
supported drives, the Burner menu will be empty and burning is not possible.
Set the Burn Rate
MiniBurn automatically selects the fastest rate reported by your drive. It is typical to use the fastest rate, unless you know from
previous experience that your computer doesn’t burn well at high speed. In that case, set a slower burn rate to ensure a good
burn.
Test Mode Checkbox (Simulate Burn)
To test the CD Burner without actually writing a CD, turn on the Test Mode checkbox. After your PC has “proven itself” with a
couple of good burns, routine testing is not necessary.
Cache Files Checkbox
If Cache Files is turned ON, MiniBurn writes an encoded temporary file before burning the CD. Unless burn errors are
encountered, performance is faster with this option turned OFF. It is not usually necessary to Cache Files, but there are some
situations where Caching is helpful:
1. On a very slow PC, the computer may not be fast enough to translate the wave file to CD audio while burning. Caching may
be necessary to avoid errors.
2. If Burn List audio files are stored in another PC on your local network, the network transfer delay may cause errors. Caching
will pre-fetch the files to your local hard disk before burning the CD.
Use Burn Proof Checkbox
Burn Proof is a technology available on many newer CD/DVD burners. With Burn Proof, it is less likely to accidentally make a
bad CD. If a burner has the Burn Proof feature, the checkbox is automatically enabled and turned ON. If a burner does not have
this feature, the checkbox is grayed-out and cannot be adjusted. Unless Burn Proof seems to be causing unlikely strange
problems, always use this feature if it is available.
Burn CD + Finalize (Make Playable CD)
Start CD burning. This button is the preferred way to make CDs for use with standalone Audio CD Players. With the other
options, “Burn CD – No Finalize” and “Finalize Only,” the tracks will typically be readable by computer CDROM drives, but
all of your recorded tracks may not be visible to standalone Audio CD Players, even after the disc is finalized.
Note: If you want the disc to be playable in standalone audio CD Players, remember to use CD-R (CD Recordable) discs rather than CD-RW
(CD Rewritable) discs. Most stand-alone audio CD players cannot read CD-RW discs.
Burn CD – No Finalize (allow tracks to be added later)
Audio CDs must be “finalized” before they can be recognized by the majority of stand-alone audio CD players (stereos, boom
boxes, portable CD players, automobile CD Players), or television DVD players. However, many computer CD drives can play
“Un-Finalized” audio CDs, so you can play them on your computer until all the songs have been added to the CD.
Use “Burn CD – No Finalize” if you wish to add tracks to an audio CD over more than one session.
Note: Be sure to use “Burn CD + Finalize” or “Finalize Only” when you add the final track(s) to a multi-session Audio CD.
When adding tracks to an “Un-Finalized” audio CD, the Available Time field displays the “empty” time remaining on the CDR
(the disc currently loaded in your burner).
Example: If you have already recorded 40 minutes to a 74- minute CDR, MiniBurn will display about 34 minutes of Available
Time. Take care not to add more tracks than will properly fit on the CD’s remaining empty space.
Make sure that the Total Time does not exceed the Available Time!
Finalize Only (Make Playable CD without adding new tracks)
Audio CDs must be “Finalized” before they can be recognized by the majority of stand-alone audio CD players (stereos, boom
boxes, portable CD players, automobile CD Players), or television DVD players. If you have previously added tracks to a disc
with the Burn CD – No Finalize function, you can finalize the disc with the Finalize Only button.
Stop Burn
Stop burning before the disc is finished.
Note: If you prematurely Stop, the CD will almost certainly be ruined.

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Burning Progress
While a CD is burning, progress is indicated in the lower-left of the MiniBurn window. Progress messages are also displayed in
the Status Bar at the bottom of the window.
Read Buffer % - The computer’s disk read buffer usage. If Burn Proof is not available, you may have burn errors if this drops to
zero in mid-burn. In this case, try a slower Burn Rate.
Drive Buffer % - The CD Burner’s write buffer usage. If Burn Proof is not available, you may have burn errors if this ever drops
to zero. In this case, try a slower Burn Rate.
If a bona-fide buffer under-run actually occurs, MiniBurn also displays an error dialog at the end of the burn.
The two Buffer fields are most useful for diagnosing problems-- If the Read Buffer gets too low, it may mean that the Hard
Drive (or network connection) is not fast enough. If the Drive Buffer gets too low but the Read Buffer remains adequate, it may
mean that background processes are stealing too much CPU time from MiniBurn.
Track Written - Indicate the current track’s progress.
Total Written - Indicate the progress of the entire burn.
Save Track as Performance
This feature takes “freezing” a track one step further and saves the audio itself. So, you can send your Band-in-a-Box song to
your friend, who will be able to play that track without needing to have the RealTracks installed.
To save the track, right-click on the track radio button and go to Track Actions | Save Track as Performance File. You have a
choice of a WAV file or a WMA file. When you choose, the track will be rendered to C:\bb\<Song Title><track name>(e.g.,
Bass).WAV or .WMA.

You can use the Erase Performance Track command to remove the Performance Track.

Technical Note: A Performance Track can be made by simply making an audio file (WAV, WMA) and naming it the same as the song, but
with the track name (Bass, Piano, Drums, Guitar, Strings, Melody, Soloist) added. For example, if the song is MySong.mgu, you put a file
named MySong Melody.wma in the same folder, and that will be a performance track on the Melody track.

Saving your Configuration

The [Prefs] button opens the Preferences dialog, which allows you to set the program settings that are saved in the
Band-in-a-Box for Windows® configuration file called intrface.bbw. The various Preferences are described in detail in
the Reference chapter.
Custom Preferences
You can save and load custom preferences files with your current settings saved and restored. For example, you can have a
preference that remembers a certain group of songs, notation transpositions, etc.
The Options | Return to Factory Settings menu command saves preferences to disk, so that the settings can be restored at any
time.
Choose the menu item Options | Save Preferences As to save a configuration or Options | Open Preferences File to load a saved
configuration.

Congratulations!
You have been through the full process of song production in Band-in-a-Box.
You can now produce a complete song in Band-in-a-Box with a melody, solo, and harmonies plus RealDrums and RealTracks
and your own audio track with harmonies and professional effects.
You can print out beautiful notation in a professional “handwritten” jazz font, complete with chord symbols, lyrics and your
own text markers and annotations. And you can save your song in various MIDI and audio formats for playback from your
computer, over the Internet, or from an audio CD.
You are ready for endless hours of fun and great music with Band-in-a-Box.

Chapter 6: Making Songs 167

 Chapter 7: RealTracks and RealDrums
RealTracks
What are RealTracks?
RealTracks create Band-in-a-Box tracks with live audio recordings of top studio musicians and recording artists. These tracks
take the place of the MIDI track for that instrument but can still be controlled just like the MIDI instrument (volume changes,
muting, etc.). Best of all, they follow the chord progression that you have entered, so that you hear an authentic audio
accompaniment to your song.
RealTracks are not “samples,” but are full recordings, lasting from 1 to 8 bars at a time, playing along in perfect sync with the
other Band-in-a-Box tracks. There are many Band-in-a-Box styles that use RealTracks, and they can be built into any style to
replace the Bass, Guitar, Piano, or Strings track. They can also be generated to the Soloist (or Melody) track using the Soloist
feature and saved with the song.
More RealTracks
There are hundreds of RealTracks available, either as separate add-ons, or bundled into the various Band-in-a-Box PAKs for
better value. To see which RealTracks you have, visit the (main menu) Options | What add-ons do I have? dialog. This will list
the RealTracks sets that you have. This feature is also available from the Help menu.
When a song is loaded, played or saved, a yellow hint message will appear if any RealTracks are missing, listing the files that
are missing.
RealTracks Settings
Ctrl+click on the [RealTracks] toolbar button to go directly to the RealTracks Settings dialog, or Shift+click to open the
RealTracks Picker. A single click on this button opens a menu with selections for the RealTracks Picker Dialog, the
RealTracks Preferences (RealTracks Settings dialog), an option to Select better RealTracks for this tempo for the Bass, Piano,
Guitar, and Strings parts if there are any available, and options for replacing MIDI styles with RealTracks.

The RealTracks Settings dialog can also be accessed by selecting the [RealTracks] button from the
Preferences dialog or pressing the R T 2 Enter keys.

Enable RealTracks: You can enable/disable the RealTracks feature.

168 Chapter 7: RealTracks and RealDrums

RealCharts (notation for some RealTracks): Most RealTracks now display notation, i.e., RealCharts, showing the notes that
are being played. Some Guitar RealTracks also show tablature and an accurate on-screen fretboard guitar display to show what
is being played on guitar.
To see which instruments have RealCharts, visit the RealTracks Pick dialog and sort column 11, “Chart.” Instruments with an
“N” or “Gt” in this column have RealCharts.
- Instruments with “Gt” in the Chart column have RealCharts with accurate guitar tab and on-screen guitar fretboard display.
- If the instrument is Acoustic Piano and there is an “N” in the Chart column, the instrument has a jazz piano RealChart.
RealTracks piano parts that are on the piano track will appear with the right and left hands split in notation.
- The various other instruments with an “N” (Pedal Steel, Slide Guitar, Resophonic, Trumpet, Alto Sax, Tenor Sax) have
RealCharts in standard notation.
At the top of the screen, if a track has RealTracks but is NOT a RealCharts track, the track name is green. If a track has a
RealChart, the track name is green and underlined with a short line. If a track has RealChart and is a guitar track with accurate
tab and on-screen guitar fretboard display, it is green and underlined with a long line.
The RealCharts can be saved to MIDI files or with Band-in-a-Box songs (MGU).
RealCharts are optional and are selected in the RealTracks Settings dialog.
- Show RealCharts notation from styles and songs will show RealCharts that have been generated from styles or songs stored
with RealTracks.
- Show RealCharts notation for Soloists will show RealCharts that have been generated from the Select Soloist dialog.
- Save RealCharts in MIDI files will save the RealChart to a MIDI track so you can analyze it in other programs.
- Save RealCharts in BB songs (MGU) will save the RealChart MIDI information to the MGU file.
Custom RealTracks folder: RealTracks are stored in C:\bb\RealTracks (assuming that C:\bb is your Band-in-a-Box folder).
You can choose an alternate location by pressing on the folder button and picking an alternate folder. Then, click on the
[Update] button to confirm the new location.
Tip: The custom folder location is remembered in C:\bb\Preferences\intrface.bbw and
C:\Users\Public\Ticket\Band-in-a-Box Folder Locations.txt.

You don’t need to visit this folder when using RealTracks; it is used internally by Band-in-a-Box, so you shouldn’t add or
remove files from this RealTracks folder unless you “know what you’re doing.” If Band-in-a-Box cannot find your RealTracks
folder, a yellow hint message appears at boot up to alert you to that and tells you how to fix it.
Global volume adjust: You can apply an overall Volume Adjust to the RealTracks. If they are too loud overall, try a Global
Volume Adjust of about -10 dB.
Adjust push velocity / Adjust shot velocity: If you find that RealTracks (other than Drums) pushes or shots are too loud (soft),
then put negative (positive) numbers here. (Note: Drums are set in RealDrums Settings dialog.)
Allow soloing to crescendo can be applied to some RealTracks to have the intensity of the solo building up, with the flashiest
part of the solos playing as the solo builds.
Allow Auto-RealTracks substitution based on tempo: If you have similar RealTracks available at different tempos, Band-in-
a-Box will automatically choose the best one to use. For example, if you have a ballad loaded, with an Acoustic Bass
RealTracks at tempo of 60, and you speed up the tempo to 140, and press [Play], Band-in-a-Box will automatically choose an
Acoustic Bass RealTracks closer to tempo of 140, if it is the same genre and feel. This means you can use a simple jazz style,
and play it at various tempos, without having to set the best RealTracks based on tempos.
For example, if we load in a jazz ballad style like _BALFRED.STY, we can see that the name of the Bass RealTracks style has a
tilde (~) symbol at the beginning. This indicates that it could be changed to a different RealTracks style at a higher tempo.

Now let’s increase the tempo of the song to a higher tempo, like 115. We will see that the name of the RealTracks instrument
switches to one that is suitable for a tempo=110. So, when you press play, you will hear the RealTracks closest to your tempo,
without having to do anything to make this happen.

The default for the tempo swapping feature for RealTracks is “true.” There is an option in the RealTracks Settings dialog to
disable automatic tempo swapping. When automatic RealTracks substitution is disabled (unchecked) the Show message when
better RT are available at this tempo setting will be turned on.
A yellow message appears if RealTracks are selected, but better RealTracks are available for the current tempo. You can then
substitute them by pressing the [RealTracks] toolbar button and then clicking on Select better RealTracks for this tempo.
The Tempo Swapping (TS) column of the RealTracks Assign dialog shows which RealTracks are eligible for Tempo Swapping.
The tempo swapping only occurs if you have the RealTracks in your installation.

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Speed up generation of RealTracks: This “speed up” feature works automatically and uses CPU resources during playback. If
you have a multi-core machine, you may not notice this at all, since it will use different cores than the main Band-in-a-Box
thread. If you have an older machine, low on memory, slow hard drive etc., or notice audio glitches during playback you can
disable this feature to ensure that your machine is doing less CPU work.
Tempo/Pitch Stretching Quality (reduce on slow machines): This allows you to select quality of the tempo and pitch
stretching. You can select “High” if you have a fast computer, but you should select “Low” if you have a slower computer and
are hearing stuttering sounds during playback.
Use +/- RealTracks for generation: This setting is normally left off, but enable it if you have a slower machine.
Use 4-bar endings for songs with RealTracks: 4-bar endings allow time for a natural decay of the instruments. By “4-bar-
endings” we are referring to a 2-bar ending that has an additional two bars to allow for the natural decay of the audio instrument
(instead of being quickly faded out). 4-bar endings are on by default. You can disable 4-bar endings globally by leaving this box
unchecked or on a song-by-song basis in the Song Settings dialog, Edit | Song Form | Settings (for this song).
Add reverb to RealTracks: When this is set, reverb will be added to the RealTracks and RealDrums.
Allow RealTracks shots, holds and pushes: RealTracks support Shots, Holds, and Pushes. Simply type in the chords as you
normally would, adding periods (…) for shots and holds, and the RealTracks will play them.
Note: You need a Library\Holds folder in your RealTracks folder.
The RealTracks Assign dialog that lists each RealTrack has the last column called “Holds” that lists whether that RealTrack
supports Shots, Holds, and Pushes. If there is a number there (other than a blank field), then they are all supported. If there is an
“n” this means that they are supported, but you don’t have the Holds_## files in the RealTracks\Library\Holds folder.
Assuming that you have the Holds files for the RealTracks that you are generating, then you just use Band-in-a-Box as you
would normally, and type chords with shots (C..), holds (C…), or pushes (^C or ^^C for 8th or 16th note push), or combinations
of push and hold (^C….).
On jazz RealTracks, JazzUp triads to sevenths: Many jazz comping styles play triads (instead of 7ths) when simple triads are
entered, instead of “jazzing them up” to 7ths chords. Enable this setting if you prefer to have triads automatically “jazzed up”
when comping using jazz RealTracks.
Auto-replace MIDI Styles with RealTracks styles when songs loaded: If this is set, when an old song with a MIDI style loads
a RealStyle may get substituted automatically, making your songs sound better. You can reverse the substitution in the
RealTracks toolbar menu by selecting Restore Style prior to Style Alias.
When Load/Save VST and FX with Songs is set, songs or styles with VST synths and FX will have them loaded with the song.
Reduce volume of RealTracks to match MIDI: Uncheck to preserve the original levels of the audio, and not reduce it to
match the lower levels of MIDI tracks. This is useful while rendering and transferring files to a DAW.
Automatically fill gaps between fills: If this is enabled, gaps between generated riffs will be filled automatically. (Note: This
option will be overridden for individual RealTracks by the Edit Extra Soloist Information dialog.)
The [Defaults] button sets RealTracks Settings back to default settings.
The [Demos] button displays a menu of song demos with RealTracks in the C:\bb\Demos\RealTracks - Demos folder.
The [Assign to Track] button launches the RealTracks Picker, where RealTracks instruments are listed and assigned to Band-
in-a-Box tracks.
Save the new settings you have made in this dialog by pressing the [Update Settings] button. Most changes will take effect the
next time you press [Play].
Press the [Erase Un-needed +/- Files] button to erase unneeded files from the RealTracks folder.
IMPORTANT: If you plan on continuing to use older versions of Band-in-a-Box with the same RealTracks folders, then DON’T erase these +/-
files, because the older versions of Band-in-a-Box still need the larger size RealTracks.
Q. What are RealTracks +/- files?
With RealTracks from Band-in-a-Box 2010 or earlier, we included extra WMA files in the RealTracks folders. These have transposed versions
of the WMA files, which have + or - in the file names. For example, BG057+1.wma would be a +/- file, whereas BG057.wma would not be one.
We call them RealTracks “+/- files.” They are not included with Band-in-a-Box 2011 or higher because they are not needed and they take up
extra space.
Q. I bought Band-in-a-Box for the first time with version 2011. Do I need to do anything?
No, there are no +/- files included with Band-in-a-Box 2011 or higher, so there is nothing to do
Q. I have upgraded to Band-in-a-Box 2011 and have existing RealTracks folders with +/- files. Do I need to do anything?
You don’t need to do anything. But if you want to save a lot of hard drive space, and you have a newer/faster machine (Vista or W7), you can
go to the RealTracks Settings (Preferences) and click on [Erase Un-needed +/- files] (see details in #2 below). If you have an older/slower
machine, you may want to select the “Use +/- RealTracks for generation (enable on slow machines)” checkbox (see details in #1below).
Customers with existing RealTracks collections (2010 or earlier) don’t need to do anything, as their existing RealTracks will work.
In summary:
1. If using an older/slower machine (XP):
- In the RealTracks Settings dialog (Preferences), select the “Use +/- RealTracks for generation (enable on slow machines)” checkbox.
- Don’t press the [Erase Un-needed +/- files] button.

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 2. If using a newer machine (Vista/W7)
- In the RealTracks Settings dialog (Preferences), leave “Use +/- RealTracks for generation (enable on slow machines)” unchecked. The
program won’t use them.
- Use the program for a few days, playing all kinds of songs, including ones with lots of RealTracks, and in different keys (e.g., Gb). If you look
at the CPU usage of bbw.exe during playback, you can see how hard your machine is working. If it is less than 60% CPU use, things are fine.
If you have no playback issues (stuttering, or instruments dropping out during playback), then indeed you do have a “fast machine,” and can
safely press the [Erase Un-needed +/- files] button.
The [Verify] function checks your installation to find if RealTracks are properly installed, or any files are missing.
1. It checks the Bt0 status of the RealTracks st2, compared to the Bt0 found in the RealTracks folder.
2. It issues error messages if a st2 is found, but not the RealTracks folder.
3. Issues a message if xt2 not found (for a chording RealTracks).
The [Find and Fix] button searches for missing RealTracks ST2/XT2 files in the C:\bb\Soloists folder and reports any
installation errors.
Press [OK] to make your selection and exit the RealTracks Settings dialog.
Using RealTracks
There are three ways that you can use RealTracks with Band-in-a-Box.
1. RealTracks in songs. The [Assign to Track] button in the RealTracks Settings dialog opens the RealTracks Picker, which
allows you to assign specific RealTracks instruments to a track in a song. It also displays the current RealTracks that are
assigned to each track. This dialog is also available with a right-click on any Band-in-a-Box track name. Then select the
Select RealTracks menu command.
2. RealTracks in styles. RealTracks can be built in to styles, so you can have styles that are all MIDI, a mix of MIDI tracks and
RealTracks, or all RealTracks. Styles that use RealTracks only are called RealStyles. Open the StylePicker and locate the
Type button above the styles list. This button allows you to filter the list by the type (Real or MIDI). If you want to see the
RealStyles, select Real (no MIDI). If you want to see the RealStyles and styles with RealTracks and MIDI tracks, select Real
and Real w/MIDI. The style names for RealStyles are prefaced by an underscore, _. The style names for styles with
RealTracks and MIDI tracks are prefaced by an equal sign, =.
3. RealTrack Soloists. These are Soloists that are generated on the Soloist track, by pressing the Soloist button on the main
screen. Soloists 361 and above are using the RealTracks.
Tip: You can quickly go to Soloist 361 by typing 361 and pressing [Go To #] or using the Favorites if you’ve previously chosen this Soloist.

Using RealTracks in Songs - RealTracks Picker

The RealTracks Picker allows you to assign a specific RealTracks instruments to a track in a song. It also displays any
RealTracks that are currently assigned to each track.
Note: RealTracks can be assigned either from the style or from the song. This dialog allows you to assign the ones in the song.
This dialog is launched by several ways.
1. Press the R T Enter or R T 1 Enter keys.
2. Click on the [RealTracks] toolbar button and select RealTracks Picker Dialog, or Shift+click on this button.
3. Right-click or double-click on a track button at the top of the screen and choose Select RealTracks in the menu.
4. Click on a track name in the Mixer and choose Select RealTracks in the menu.
5. Press the [Assign to Track] button in the RealTracks Settings dialog.
6. In the Track Settings and Actions dialog, click on the [+] button to the right of the RealTracks radio button and choose
Select RealTracks in the menu.

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To use the dialog, first select the track at the top left corner. Then, select the RealTracks for that track from the list.
Using the [Super], [MIDI] and [RD] buttons, you can assign other types of tracks (MIDI SuperTracks, MIDI and RealDrums)
to the selected track. The [Fav] button opens a dialog that lists favorites followed by recently used RealTracks. The [*] button
assigns the highlighted RealTracks to a favorite. The [Similar] button opens the Find a Sub dialog that lists RealTracks similar
to the currently selected one.
A filter is available. Type a filter text (e.g., bass) in the Filter by field, and press [Update]. You will then see the list filtered to
show only RealTracks that have the word bass somewhere in the title, memo, genre, etc. The [#] button allows you to quickly
filter the list by many elements including type (soloist/background/chording), feel (even/swing, 8th/16th), time signature, artists,
etc. Pressing [Show All] will cancel the filter and show all RealTracks again. Multiple search terms work with the filter. If you
separate terms with a space, each term is searched for separately. So, a search for “Country Guitar Ev 120” will find any
Country Guitar styles with an even feel that would work with a tempo of close to 120. Adding a search term that has a number
will filter for RealTracks that match the tempo or within a compatible range.
You can instantly hear an audio demo by double-clicking a RealTrack on the list. Since this doesn’t affect your song, you can
quickly audition many different RealTracks and find the best ones for your song.
You can choose which of band or solo plays first when you double-click on the list, by
the Band (on Double Click) checkbox. Otherwise, press the [Band] or the [Solo]
button.

The preview sometimes plays files from the internet. You can download a file that is being played from the internet by clicking
the folder button. If the file is being played on your hard drive, this button will show the file in a folder. You can control the
volume of the demos with the speaker button.
You can right-click on the list to see a menu with commonly used functions. For example, you can toggle a favorite, list only
favorites, clear filter, find similar RealTracks, and launch the StylePicker showing only styles that use the selected RealTracks.
The list can be sorted by clicking on any column heading. As well as Name, Instrument, Type (Rhythm or Soloist), Feel (Even
or Swing), Tempo, Genre, and Number, there are more columns with additional information about each RealTrack.
- The “Tempo” shown is the “base” (or typical) tempo for the RealTracks instrument as it is played, but RealTracks have a
tempo stretching capability that enables their application over a wide range of tempos. If saving a song with RealTracks and
the audio base tempo is different from the song tempo, a warning message will show, asking you to confirm that you want to
save it like this.
- The “N/A” column shows “N/A” for RealTracks that you have not installed yet or haven’t purchased, if “Show RealTracks
that are N/A” is checked.
- “Set” is the number of the RealTracks set that includes the instrument. This column also tells you whether a video is available
for the RealTracks.
- The “Stereo” column shows whether the instrument playback is stereo or mono.
- Instruments with an “N” or “Gt” in the “Chart” column will display the RealTracks in notation.
- The “Artist” column has the name of the musician playing on that RealTrack. See the “Artist Bio” box for information about
the player.
- The letter “Y” in the “TS” column means that Tempo Swapping is supported for the instrument. If you have similar
RealTracks available at different tempos, Band-in-a-Box automatically chooses the best one to use.

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- “Holds” indicates whether that RealTrack supports shots, holds, and pushes. If there is a number there (other than a blank
field), then they are all supported.
- “Simpler Available” will have a letter “s” in the column if the RealTracks instrument has simpler options available. These are
parts with less busy, less embellished playing for generating simpler arrangements.
- “Direct Input Available” has a letter “y” if the instrument offers the option of clean recordings without effects. This allows
you to start with a clean track and add your own effects.
- The “Stems” column shows the number of individual instruments/voices available.
RealTrack Stems: When you select a RealTrack that has stems, you will see what they are just below the list. Using the
checkboxes, you can load all stems, the selected stems, or the mix of all stems for your song. If you select all or individual
stems, each stem will be loaded to separate tracks, so you can control volume, pan, etc. for each stem using the Mixer.

Memo: This describes the currently selected RealTracks style, and includes some useful tips, such as a suggested tempo range
and Band-in-a-Box styles to use it with.
Artist Bio: The RealTracks have been recorded by top studio musicians. The artist names and bios are displayed for the
RealTracks. Double-click here to open the Artist Browser, which lists all artists and allows you to see more info.
User Memo: You can enter your own comments about any style in this field. The comments are saved in RTUserMemos.txt.
Song/Style Demos: Use the song and style demos to audition RealTracks. The [Song Demo (MGU)] button will display a list
of songs in the C:\bb\Demos\RealTracks - Demos folder that use the selected RealTrack. Click on the song name and then press
the [Play] button to hear it. The [Style Demo (.STY)] button shows a list of styles that use the currently highlighted RealTracks
instrument. Clicking on a style name will load the style into the current Band-in-a-Box song. Press [Play] to hear your current
song played with the RealTracks style that you want to audition.
With the Timebase option, you can play any RealTracks at normal, half time, double time or triple time. Half time is used for
fast tempo songs when a much slower tempo RealTrack has been chosen. Double time is used for slow tempo songs (e.g.,
ballads) when a much faster tempo RealTrack is chosen. This allows you, for example, in a ballad at a tempo of 70, to add a
RealTracks Sax solo with a tempo of 140, and play it as a double time, which will match the ballad tempo of 70.
The [Medley] button allows you to create a medley of RealTracks on the same track.
If Bluesy is checked, the selected RealTracks will play in a bluesy style, where major triads are treated like 7th chords.
If Simpler is checked, the selected RealTracks will play a simpler arrangement (less busy, less embellished). See the “Simple
Available” column for availability of simpler RealTracks.
If Direct Input is checked, the selected RealTracks will use a “clean signal” guitar so that you can add your own effects. See
the “Direct Input Available” column for availability of clean recordings.
Sometimes you want the very simplest comping part possible, which is just “held chords” for the whole piece. This would mean
that the piano player, for example, just plays a single chord and holds it for the duration until the next chord. If you check Held
option, the selected RealTracks will play held chords.
The [Defaults] button sets the dialog to default values.
The [Prefs] button launches the RealTracks Settings dialog.
The [Save Style] button saves the current style, but with RealTracks assigned to the style equal to the current song’s
RealTracks. The volumes used in the style will match the volumes set on the main screen in Band-in-a-Box (compared to a
default of 90). For example, if you set the bass volume to 40, the Style will be saved with a negative decibel (dB) setting, so that
it will playback at a quieter volume (when all volumes are set to 90).
The [None] button sets the current track to no RealTracks assigned for the song.
The [All None] button sets all RealTracks for the song to “none.” It will also optionally disable RealTracks present in the style
for this song.
Select Disable RealTracks for this track (Force this track to MIDI) if you want to have no RealTracks instrument for this
track, even if the style specifies a RealTrack.
Show RealTracks that are N/A: Since RealTracks are add-on purchases for Band-in-a-Box, your version may not contain all
RealTracks. Selecting this checkbox will show you all available RealTracks.
Tip: Options | What add-ons do I have? will tell you what RealTracks sets you have.
Show RealTracks Variations: Some RealTracks have variations available, such as the Acoustic Jazz Bass, which has
variations that play in “2” only, in “4” only, or in “2”and “4” (for “a” and “b” substyles).
Use Show if Tempo is out of Range checkbox to show/hide RealTracks that are out of compatible tempo range.
[Generate Track] will generate a RealTracks instrument on the currently selected track.
The [Copy List] button will save the current RealTracks list to a tab-delimited .txt file in the C:\bb\Data folder and open it in
Notepad. In Notepad copy all and paste it into an Excel file. You can then apply a hierarchical sorting of the list.

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The [Close] button will close the dialog without generating any tracks. Then, when play is pressed, the tracks will be generated.
Press the [Cancel] button to cancel your selection and leave the dialog.
The [Rebuild and Fix] button rebuilds the list of RealTracks and reports any installation errors. Press after you have installed
new RealTracks.
Show Error messages: If this option is checked, Band-in-a-Box will display RealTracks installation errors when you open the
dialog. Press [Rebuild and Fix] for more information.
Artist Browser
Clicking on the artist bio in the RealTracks/RealDrums Picker or the [Artist Bios] button in other RealTracks/RealDrums
selection dialogs will open the Artist Browser dialog.

- It lists all artists and the instruments they play.

- It shows the total number of artists.
- You can read the biography of the artist.
- There is a text filter.
- The [More Info] button will launch the PG Music web page.
- The [OK - Show Artist RealTracks] button will go back to the RealTracks/RealDrums selection dialog and list all the
RealTracks/RealDrums that the selected artist plays.
12-Key “Woodshedding” RealTracks
Many people use the RealTracks feature in Band-in-a-Box to learn how to “play like the pros.” This is because you can see
notation, tab, on-screen guitar, and more as you hear the music. Now we’ve taken this to a higher level, by providing some “12-
Key” RealTracks that have been recorded in all 12 keys. In previous versions, you might decide to learn to play by studying the
parts played by the RealTracks artists and watch the notation to do so. Many people have found this a great way to learn, but it
had the following issues.
- Since RealTracks were based on only 5 keys, they were transposed much of the time, which would make the guitar part
unplayable for a student in some cases.
- The tab/notation was good for guitar, but lacked some precision and graphical representation of bends, pull-offs, hammer-ons,
and slides.
So, we have solved that by creating some Guitar RealTracks with:
- recording in all 12-keys. So, you can see what a pro would play over an Ab chord, and you won’t see them play on a G
transposed up to an Ab,
- and carefully transcribed notation, with correct bends, pull-offs, hammer-ons, and slides.
So now you (we!) students have no more excuses! You can watch and learn from the pros!
Tip: Remember to use some of the Woodshedding features for looping (loop but mute the Guitar track every Nth loop, or loop but advance to
the next loop every Nth time).
We have made some of these for country guitar (Brent Mason), piano (Mike Rojas), and pedal steel (Eddy Dunlap). For guitar,
this means that they are typically generated with no transpositions on any chord so that you can learn by copying exactly what
you see on the fretboard. In combination with another new feature, we have (Hi-Q RealCharts and guitar display), this gives you
great notation and guitar display.

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Using RealTracks in Songs - Select Best RealTracks
This dialog shows you the RealTracks that best match the genre, tempo, feel of your song. The list is displayed from best to
worst. For example, if you have a jazz ballad style loaded (tempo 60), the list will show jazz RealTracks that will work well at a
tempo of 60 at the top of the list.
To add a “best” RealTracks to a track, right-click on that track button. You will then see menu items for “All” RealTracks,
“Chording” RealTracks, and “Soloist” RealTracks.

The Select Best “All” RealTracks menu command will list all types (background and soloist) of RealTracks. The Select Best
“Chording” RealTracks menu command will show you a list of ill background (chording or melodic) RealTracks, and Best
“Soloist” RealTracks will list the best soloist or background soloist RealTracks. Selecting one of these menu commands will
open a dialog that lists the best RealTracks, sorted from best to worst for the current style.

If you want to filter the list, enter text or press the [#] button.
You can audition the RealTracks by double-clicking on the list or using the transport control buttons.
You can choose options (timebase, bluesy, simple, etc.) for the selected RealTrack.
Enabling the List best subs for the current RealTracks option will list RealTracks that are similar to the currently selected
RealTracks.
Pressing the [Artist Bios] button opens the Artist Browser, which lists all RealTracks artists and allows you to see more info.
The [OK and Generate Now] button closes the dialog, entering the currently selected item, and generating the track.
You can also make your choice and press [OK] to return to the main screen. When you press [Generate and Play] the song will
be generated with the new RealTrack.
Select Best Sub RealTracks
Musicians with bands are familiar with the need to “find a sub” when you’re looking for a replacement. In Band-in-a-Box,
“Find-a-Sub” means to find a different RealTracks that is the most similar in sound (genre, feel, tempo, and time signature).
This helps to “freshen up” or vary the sound of an arrangement and allows you to explore different sounds for the band.
To find a sub for a RealTracks, if the RealTracks to be subbed is on a track, right-click (or double-click) on the track button, and
then go to Select RealTracks | Find Best Sub.

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You will then see the Find a Sub dialog, which lists the RealTracks that would work best as a sub, sorted from best to worst.
You can double-click on the list to audition, and when you find one you like, press OK.

If you don’t have a RealTracks already on the track, go to Select RealTracks | Select Best “All” RealTracks.

In the dialog that opens, select a RealTracks that you want to sub, and enable the “List best subs for the current RealTracks”
checkbox.

This will sort the list showing you the best subs. Select a RealTrack from the list and press OK.

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(Re)-Generate RealTracks for Regions (MultiRiff)
This feature allows you to interactively create sections of RealTracks (MultiRiffs) on any track by choosing from multiple
candidates (up to 20). Generate riffs for a section of a track, audition them, and pick one, either replacing or merging with the
existing RealTracks. This can add life to old tracks, by improving sections that had problems to a better riff!
Press the F8 key to open the dialog. You can also open it from the track button menu at the top of the screen or the new Track
Settings and Actions dialog.
In the dialog, select a track, set a range, and choose a RealTrack to use for that range of the track. You can of course use the
RealTrack selected for the whole track, but you can also use a different RealTrack for that range. Press the [Generate Now]
button. A riff will be generated and play automatically. You can press this button again to get more riffs. The [Previous] and
[Next] buttons let you navigate through the generated riffs. For each riff, you can add a memo like a keyword or your score out
of 10, which makes it easier for you to decide which one to pick. By default, riffs will replace the existing riff on the track, but
you can merge them if you disable the “Overwrite (replace existing)” option. When you are happy with a riff and want to add it
permanently to the track, press the [Accept] button. You can then generate new riffs for a different range.
Track: Select the track to generate or
regenerate riffs. The track can be an existing
RealTrack or empty.
Alternate RT: You can use an alternate
RealTrack (other than the main RealTrack on
the track), either replacing or merging with
the main RealTrack. For example, you can
generate a pedal steel riff on a mandolin
RealTrack. This is optional.
[Main RT]: This lets you choose a RealTrack
to use as the main RealTrack on the track.
[Alternate]: This lets you select an alternate
RealTrack.
[X]: This quickly clears the alternate
RealTrack.
Silence: When this is checked, silence will be generated, replacing the existing RealTracks over the range. This is useful for
arranging or tidying up small glitches.
by Bars: Select this if you prefer to enter a range, using the starting bar, the chorus, and the number of bars.
Start Offset: This setting can fine tune the range. The unit is ticks, which are 120 per beat. For example, entering 60 would start
the range 60 ticks (half a beat) later.
End Offset: This setting can fine tune the range. The unit is ticks, which are 120 per beat. For example, entering -40 would end
the range 40 ticks earlier.
[Update]: This notifies the program to update the range you have entered.

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by Range: Select this to enter the range to use for the generation. The format is bar.beat.tick separated by periods. There are 120
ticks per beat. For example, 3.2.50 would be bar 3, beat 2, tick 50.
[Snap]: This snaps the entered setting to the nearest bar boundaries.
Generate an extra beat (for Soloists): Soloist often end a phrase by playing a single note on the next bar. For example, if you
are generating riffs for 4 bars, you will hear a note on the first beat of the 5th bar to end the phrase.
Overwrite (replace) existing: If this option is checked, the new riffs will replace the existing one on the track. Uncheck it if
you want to hear both of them playing at once.
Diff: This option determines how the riffs will be different from previous ones. If it’s set to “always,” each generation will be
different from previous ones. If it’s set to “start,” the first bar of the section generated will be different from previous one. If it’s
set to “none,” the generation might be similar to the previous one.
[Play]: This will play the song, starting a bar before the beginning of the new generation. It does not generate the other tracks. If
you want to do that, choose the [Full Generation] button instead.
Auto Play: If this is checked, then when a new riff is generated, you will hear it right away. This applied to these buttons:
[Generate New], [Previous], [Next], and [Original].
[Full Generation]: This will generate all tracks so that you hear a full arrangement.
[Original]: This returns the current riff to the original riff present on the track before you used this dialog or pressed the
[Accept] button.
Memo: You can add a memo like a keyword or your score out of 10, which makes it easier for you to decide which one to pick.
Riff x/x: This shows the current riff number in the list and the total number of riffs. For example, Riff 3/5 means the current is
the third riff of 5 riffs total. You can make more (up to 20) by pressing the [Generate New] and navigate through the list until
you press [Accept].
[Previous]/[Next]: You can generate up to 20 different riffs at a time. These buttons let you navigate through them.
[Accept]: Press this button when you are happy with a riff and want to add it permanently to the track. This will remove the rest
of the riffs in the list, and you can generate new riffs for a different range.
[Revert]: Press this to return to the original riff in the track when you opened this dialog (or changed a track or pressed the
[Accept] button to make the riff permanent).
[Forget]: This allows Band-in-a-Box to “forget” the previous ones so that you can generate using all the available ones. Note
that re-generation from a different bar, different track or different song will “forget” the previous re-generations, so you likely
won’t need to press this button much, if at all.
[Generate New]: This will generate a new riff for the selected range. You can keep generating new riffs (up to 20), press the
[Previous]/[Next] buttons to navigate through them, and then choose one to add to the track by pressing the [Accept] or [Close]
button or changing tracks.
(Re)-Generate RealTracks for Regions - Floating Window
You can re-generate sections of RealTracks by simply highlighting the section and pressing Ctrl+F8. This generates a different
part each time, so you can keep regenerating to find the best replacement. You can also re-generate using different RealTracks
than the original. Normally, you would choose to replace the existing part but you can also set this to merge so you will hear
both parts. This also works with different RealTracks than the original on the same track.
Let’s open a song that has a soloist (e.g., saxophone soloist). Now, press PLAY to generate the song. We’ll focus on the sax
soloist track since we want to fine tune the solo to our liking.
First off, select the track using the Mixer.

Now, listen to the solo. Let’s say you don’t like what the sax plays for four bars, starting at bar 9. Highlight the bars 9-13 by
dragging on the Chord Sheet. You can also do this in the Audio Edit or Notation (Editable or Staff Roll) window.

Let’s generate the selected section. Either press Ctrl+F8 or right-click on the track button and go to Track Actions | Auto
Regenerate Part of RealTracks.

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That’s it. You will now hear the song start playing at bar 8 (one bar before the section to provide a lead-in) and then you will
hear the new solo that’s generated just for these two bars.
A great thing about this is that the solo generated will be different from the previous one(s) you’ve generated. If you don’t like
the new one, try again and generate another one. You can keep going and generate up to 40 variations. And another great thing
is that they all will be different from each other. This is new for 2023, as previously it was “hit or miss” if you’d get a different
variation or not. And there are more variations available now (typically 40 instead of 20 in previous versions).
If you find one you like, great! Just stop and continue, maybe moving to another section of the song or switching to a different
track or something else entirely.
So, the Ctrl+F8 keys can become your “Fix-it” tool for fixing any section of any RealTracks that you don’t like, including
soloist, background tracks, comping etc.
If you prefer not to make a selection or you want a more customized approach to regenerate these sections, there is an optional
floating Regeneration window, which allows you to make settings to customize the type of re-generations.
Let’s press Alt+F8 or right-click on the track button and go to Track Actions | Regenerate Window.

This is a floating window, so you can do any other Band-in-a-Box function as you keep this window open.
There’s a track selector to confirm or change what track you want to re-generate.
You can set or change the current track using the [Main RT] button.
You can generate a different RealTracks by pressing the [Alt RT] button and selecting an alternate RealTracks. For example,
you may want 4 bars of a flute solo instead of sax but want to keep sax as the main soloist on the track.
Pressing the [X] button will clear this selection.
The [S] button will solo the track
The [Undo] button will undo the last generation. (Note that you can also choose Edit | Undo or Ctrl+Z to do this.)
You can generate based on either the full bar boundaries or precise regions including bars/beat and ticks. This is done with the
Bar based range option. When this option is selected, you will see Bar, Chorus and Number of bars. The [<<] button will set to
the beginning of the song, and [>>] button sets to the end. When this option is not selected, you will see a precise range in
bars/beats/ticks. The [<] button moves to the beginning of the bar. The [<<] moves to start of song. [>] moves to end of bar.
[>>] moves to end of song.
If you make selections on the Chord Sheet, Audio Edit, Piano Roll, or Notation window, these settings for range will update. For
example, if you are on the Audio Edit window, you can make a selection of a precise range, and as long as you have “Bar based
range” option de-selected, you will get the precise range you want.
The [Copy] button copies a range of riff to the clipboard.
The [Paste] button pastes the riff to the current location, overwriting the existing riff at the destination.
The [P Rel] button pastes the riff to the same relative location in the bar as the copied portion. For example, if the copied range
started at beat 2, the relative paste will start at beat 2
The [PPP] button lets you select the number of pastes. Hold down the Shift key as you click on this button to make the pastes
merge with existing riffs.
The [Paste Merge] button pastes the riff to the current location and merges it with the existing riff so you will hear both riffs/
The [Cut] button removes a range of riff and copies it to the clipboard.
The [Erase] button erases a range of riff.
The [Insert] button inserts the selected amount of space and shits all audio following the inserted region to a later time.
The [Delete] button deletes the selected region. All audio following the deleted region will be shifted to an earlier time.
The [Options] button shows options for the partial regenerations.

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 Allow Lead-in allows some of the re-generations to start early as a pickup to the
range you’ve selected.
Generate an extra beat will finish the riff up to 1 beat after the selected range.
Overwrite (replace) existing will make the generation replace the existing part.
Setting it to false will merge with the existing generation. For example, maybe you
have a sax solo and would like to have sax and flute soloing together for a few
bars. You can use this setting to accomplish this by setting this option to false.
Remember to set it back to normal when you prefer the re-generations to “replace”
instead of “merge.”
Auto-Play will play the song from the bar before the selected range, so you can hear what it sounds like.
Different Riffs determines how the riffs will be different from previous ones. If it’s set to “always,” each generation will be
different from previous ones. If it’s set to “start,” the first bar of the section generated will be different from previous one. If it’s
set to “none,” the generation might be similar to the previous one.
[Forget Recent Riffs Used] allows Band-in-a-Box to “forget” the previous ones so that you can generate using all the available
ones. Note that re-generation from a different bar, different track or different song will “forget” the previous re-generations, so
you likely won’t need to press this button much, if at all.
Edit RealTracks/RealDrums Tracks
You can copy, cut, paste, delete, insert, and do other editing functions to the RealTracks and RealDrums tracks. This allows you
to edit the tracks while preserving the ability for the tracks to regenerate new material, and the file size saved is tiny as the track
isn’t converted to audio.
You can use these functions on the Chord Sheet, Notation window or Audio Edit window.
There are two ways to use the functions. One is to use the new items in the track’s right-click menu.
Cut Riff removes a range of riff and copies it to the clipboard.
Copy Riff copies a range of riff to the clipboard.
Paste Riff pastes the copied riff to the current location, overwriting
the existing riff
Paste Riff - Relative to Copy Point pastes the copied riff to the
same relative location in the bar as the copied portion. For
example, if the copied riff started at beat 2, the relative paste will
start at beat 2.
Paste N copies of Riff pastes the copied riff to the current location
and repeats the paste by the specified number of times.
Paste Riff - Merge with underlying audio pastes the copied riff to the current location and merges it with the existing riff so you
will hear both riffs.
Erase Riff (range of MIDI and RealTracks) erases a region of RealTracks and related MIDI notation.
Another way is to use the buttons in the Regenerate window (Alt+F8). For example, if you like a certain riff and you want it at
other location, highlight it on the Audio Edit window.

When you look at the Regenerate window, the range is automatically selected for the highlighted area. Now, press the [Copy]
button to copy the riff to the clipboard.

Move the time line to the location you want to paste the copied riff and press the [Paste] button. This will paste the riff to the
destination.

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If you want to paste the riff and merge it with the existing riff at the destination, press the [Paste Merge] button instead. If you
want to paste the riff to the same relative location in the bar as the copied portion, use the [P Rel] button. For example, if the
copied range started at beat 2, the relative paste will start at beat 2. The [PPP] button lets you select the number of pastes. Hold
down the Shift key as you click on this button to make the pastes merge with existing riffs. The [Paste Merge] button pastes the
copied riff to the current location and merges it with the existing riff so you will hear both riffs.
Generate Seven Variations of WAVs
You can quickly generate 7 variations of WAVs from the same RealTrack for either a portion of the song or the whole song.
Right-click (or double-click) on a track button at the top of the screen and go to Select RealTracks | Generate Seven Variations
of WAVs (for whole/part of song).
You will then see a dialog with a list of available RealTracks. Select a RealTrack and press OK. If there is one already on the
track, it will be the default option in the dialog and you can just press OK.

Then choose the range of the song or the whole song, and press OK.
Tip: If you highlight the region in the Chord Sheet before using this feature, that region will be automatically set.
Once the WAVs are generated, you will see a message, and they show up as 7 different tracks, numbered from 1 to 7.

They are rendered as WAV files and are ready to be dragged from the Drop Station and dropped into your DAW
program.
Tip: The generated files are saved in your C:\bb\DragDrop folder.
You can audition them individually by enabling the [S] button on the Mixer. Playing them all at once will result in a
“cacophony” of 7 RealTracks at once, which might be OK for strumming guitars, but not so good for 7 solo saxophones playing
different phrases.
If you’ve generated a region of the song, pressing the F10 key will play the song looped with the current highlighted region so
that you can just hear the riffs.
Tip: The Add extra bar before and after the WAVs (for pickup notes) menu item adds an extra bar before the riff begins to ensure that the riffs
with “pickup” (early) notes will be heard. It does not add an extra bar at the end of the riff unless there are trailing notes.

Playable Tracks (RealTracks/RealDrums/MIDI SuperTracks/MIDI)

This feature allows you to customize the RealTracks (or RealDrums/MIDI/MIDI SuperTracks) performance by adding your
own notes. You will then hear those notes using a Hi-Q sound created from the RealTracks recording. This means you can get
the RealTracks to play the notes you want at key parts of the performance, either augmenting or replacing what the RealTracks
is playing, for any sections in the song.
When you open the Piano Roll or Notation window for a RealTrack, the notes you see are RealCharts, which are silent MIDI.
You can see them, but they don’t actually play during playback. With the Playable RealTracks feature, you can make some of
these notes playable.

To enter playable notes in the Piano Roll window, press the [Playable Track] button on its toolbar.

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 Note: If you want to add notes in the Notation window (Editable or Staff Roll mode), press the [PT] button on its toolbar and select Enable
Playable Track from the drop-down menu.
You will then see a message to confirm that a Hi-Q patch plugin will be installed on the track. Press OK to proceed.
Now, the button gets the green borders to indicate that you are in the Playable Track mode. In this mode,
any note you enter will be heard during playback unlike RealCharts notes.
You can enter a note by holding the Shift+Ctrl keys and clicking where you want to add a note. A note will be
entered with the duration selected in the “Dur” drop-down menu. It will snap to the nearest grid boundary if the
“Snap” setting is enabled. After you have entered a note, you can change its location by dragging it.
The notes you have entered show in green and will be heard during playback along with the generated accompaniment. But you
would want to have your own notes play in place of the generated accompaniment. So, right-click on the window and select
Create Mute Region to mute generated accompaniment from the contextual menu. This will add a green label at the top You can
extend it by dragging horizontally. When you play the song, the generated accompaniment in this region won’t be heard, but the
green notes you have entered will be heard. If you regenerate the track, it will be outside of this is region.

There is also a feature to change the non-playable notes in a region to playable notes. Select the notes, click on the arrow button
to the right of the [Playable Track] button, and select Change selected notes to Playable from the drop-down menu. The
selected notes will then become green and be heard during playback.
This drop-down menu also has options to change the selected notes
to non-playable notes, select all playable notes, choose a different
Hi-Q patch, etc.

You can also set volume for the playable notes with the control area to the right of the arrow button.
There are many possibilities you can do with the Playable Track feature. For example, the MIDI version of a pedal steel does
not sound realistic, but if you add some pitch bends events, it will sound much better.

Changing RealTracks at any bar

You can have RealTracks styles change within a song. There are two ways to change RealTracks at any bar.
Change of RealTracks Styles at any bar
You can change styles with RealTracks at any bar. For example, switch from jazz swing to bossa style at any bar.
To do this, first open the Edit Settings for Current Bar dialog (press F5) at the bar that you want the
style change. Then press the [.STY] or [Open] button to select a style.
Note: If the track type changes by the style change, the track will be silent from the current bar. For example, when
the style with a MIDI piano track is selected for the song, if you select a style with a RealTrack piano track at the
current bar, the piano track will be silent after the style change.

Change of individual RealTracks instrument for any track at any bar

You can change specific RealTracks without changing the style by inserting a specific RealTracks instrument into a track at any
bar to create a customized performance. For example, you can change an Acoustic Bass comping part to an Acoustic Bass Solo.
To change the RealTracks instrument for any track at any bar, first open the Edit Settings for Current
Bar dialog (press F5) at the bar that you want the style change. Then press the [RealTracks] button and
you will see the RealTracks changes dialog where you can choose which tracks you want to have
RealTracks changes on.

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 Select the track you want to change, and then press the “Change RealTracks to...” drop-down arrow.
You will see a huge list of RealTracks, so you will likely want to narrow it down. Type a word that is included in the
RealTracks name like “bass,” and the list will only show bass RealTracks.

You can preview the selected RealTracks by double-clicking on the list or using the transport control buttons.
Click on your selection and then choose [OK].
RealTracks Medleys
In Medleys, the RealTracks is made to switch instruments every “N” bars or every chorus. For example, you can add a
Bluegrass Medley Soloist that switches between solos from Mandolin, Guitar, Banjo, and Fiddle every 4 bars. Or a Jazz Medley
Soloist that switches between Alto Sax, Trumpet, Piano, and Guitar solos every chorus. Or insert “Silence” as one of the
instruments, which allows you to play your own instrument. Use the pre-made Soloist Medleys included or create a custom one
yourself on any track.
There are 3 ways that you can get RealTracks with Medleys (changing Soloists).
1. Some styles have them built-in. (See StylePicker for details.)

2. Some RealTracks have Medleys built in, applicable to all songs. Look in the RealTracks Picker, and search for a filter term
“Medley.” You will then see Medleys that are available.
3. You can define your own Medley, to be saved with the current song only. To do this, start in the RealTracks Picker, with
the RealTracks that you want as the first of the medley. Then press the [Medley] button. You will then see the Create a
Medley of different RealTracks dialog. In this dialog, you can specify how often you want the RealTracks to change and
create a list of instruments that you want to have included. You can also control the loudness of each instrument. In the
example shown, we have created a Medley from RealTracks 361 (Tenor Sax), by adding Clarinet and Flute, and having them
change Soloists every 4 bars.

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 When you are choosing RealTracks to use, note that there is a RealTracks available called “Silence.”
This is to be used when “you” want to play, for example, if you want to trade 4’s with the band.

The option to Start on second item in the list is useful if you want to start on a different instrument or start with Silence.
Multiple RealTracks at the same time on the same track. You can use this feature to add up to 10 RealTracks to play
simultaneously on the same track. This is useful if you want to generate a lot of RealTracks, the theoretical limit would be 7
tracks x 10 per track = 70 RealTracks instruments playing at the same time.
Multiple RealTracks are created like Soloist Medleys (as described above), but you can also select the Play all
simultaneously option. Then all of the instruments will play at all times.
RealTracks Thickening and Panning
When you select multiple RealTracks on the same track and have them play simultaneously, the followings are possible.
- The RealTracks can be the same but will play differently on each sub-track.
- You can set the stereo panning (-64 to +64) for each sub-track.
To do this, select a RealTracks at the top row, and press the [Duplicate] button. This will create a specified number of
duplicates of the RealTracks selected. Set the stereo panning for each to create a “thickened” sound.

When you play the song, you will hear a fuller sound with smooth transitions from chord to chord.
Thickened and Panned Multiple RealTracks
The C:\bb\Documentation\Tutorials\Tutorial - BB2020 folder has demo songs that have multiple RealTracks on the same track
with the stereo panning set for each sub-track.
_BAILE Demo - Baile Thickened Horns Latin Funk.SGU
_HEARTH Demo - Hearth Thickened Aahs Americana.SGU
_SMOOTHR Demo - Smoother Thickened Oohs R ‘n’ B.SGU
_TRAMCAR Demo - Tram Car Thickened Mmms Stride.SGU

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To find styles with the thickened and panned RealTracks, open the StylePicker, and type “thickened” in the text filter.

In the RealTracks Picker, you can easily identify the RealTracks with this feature by Multi[Thickened=#] in the name.

If you select one of these RealTracks and press the [Medley] button, you can see how the panning is set for each sub-track to
achieve a thickened sound.

Video RealTracks
When you load a video RealTracks, you can use it just like an audio RealTracks but you can also generate a video, which will
display the musician playing your song exactly as you hear it. If you load one of the video RealTracks bands, you will have
video RealTracks on 5 tracks, and you can make a video of 1-5 musicians. You can also include a chord sheet or notation in the
video.
You can easily find the video RealTracks in the RealTracks or RealDrums Picker. The “Set” column will show “VideoFound” if
the video RealTracks is installed.

Note: The “Set” column will show “VideoNA” if a video is available but not installed. Not all video RealTracks/RealDrums are included with a
regular Band-in-a-Box package, so seeing VideoNA is normal unless you have purchased add-ons.
When you select video RealTracks, [V] will show at the track buttons.

To make a video of RealTracks that are selected for your song, right-click on the Master button or one of the track buttons and
select Render Video(s) from the menu. This will open the Generate Video dialog.

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Drag one of the available tracks listed at the top of the dialog and drop it onto the layout selector below. You can also drag and
drop the chord sheet or notation (if available). You can even drag a video file (.mp4 files and some .avi files) from Windows®
Explorer and drop it onto the video layout selector.

If you are making a video of multiple tracks, you can choose a

track layout. For example, you can stack 3 tracks vertically for
a 3-track video, or 3 tracks on the left and 2 tracks on the right
for a 5-track video.

Right-clicking on the layout selector will show you a menu with options to flip a
video, make a video for the left-handed, or select alignment for each video.

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 You can select the resolution for the video. The aspect ratio is determined by which tracks are
included and how they are arranged, but this allows you to make the final video smaller if you
want.
When you are ready, press the [Render] button and select the name and location for the video.
While the video is being rendered, you can close the dialog and use other features in Band-in-a-Box.
When the video has been rendered, you can click on the .mp4 file on the Windows® Explorer to
play the video.
Here is an example of a video for modern country band (electric bass, electric guitar, piano, drums, and pedal steel).

Saving Your RealTracks

RealTracks that have been frozen will be saved with the song. Frozen tracks will play back instantly, not requiring time to
generate. They play back the same way each time, so if you like a solo, you can “freeze it.” If you send a song to a friend as
“frozen,” they will hear the same performance.

RealDrums
The RealDrums are recordings of top studio drummers, playing multi-bar patterns. MIDI drums are patterns based on single
drum hits, being programmed, typically on a quantized grid, of what people assume drummers are typically playing. We record
drummers at multiple tempos, so the playing you hear at various tempos is also musically different, not just “sped up.”
Drummers play different types of fills etc. at slower/faster tempos, and these are captured with RealDrums.
Technical note: If interested, you can see which tempos have been recorded by looking in the C:\bb\Drums folder for the particular style you
are interested in.

How Do RealDrums Work?

There are several ways to hear RealDrums with new or existing Band-in-a-Box songs. The simplest way is to select a style that
already uses RealDrums. In the StylePicker, styles with RealDrums can be identified in the list by a style name beginning with
a minus sign. For example, -ZZJAZZ.STY is a version of the ZZJAZZ.STY that uses RealDrums.

You can see what RealDrums set is used in a particular style is in the StyleMaker’s Misc. Style Settings dialog.
Open the StyleMaker and click on the [Misc] button to get there.

You can change the RealDrums style or assign RealDrums to a style that doesn’t have them, by clicking on the [RD]
button and making a selection from the RealDrums Picker dialog.

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RealDrums can also be enabled to substitute for MIDI drums when a song is played, or they can be assigned to a specific song.
This is done in either the RealDrums Settings or the RealDrums Picker.
RealDrums Settings
RealDrums can be substituted for MIDI drums on existing styles in the RealDrums Settings dialog, which
opens from the [RealDrums] toolbar button (Ctrl+click) or with the [RealDrums] button in the Preferences
dialog. You can also press the R D 2 Enter keys.

With Enable RealDrums checked, RealDrums may be used rather than MIDI. There is also a hotkey combination to turn
RealDrums on/off (Ctrl+Shift+F6). The hotkeys also work while the song is playing.
Substitute RealDrums for MIDI drums: This will substitute RealDrums for MIDI styles. You can change the setting from 1 to
5. If set to 1, almost all MIDI drums will get substituted by RealDrums. If set to 5, only RealDrum styles that match the style
perfectly will get substituted.
For RealDrum substitutions, choose different ^variations with each PLAY: This feature selects variations of RealDrums
instruments with each PLAY. Most RealDrums styles contain may instrument variations (“Brushes vs. Sticks,” “HiHat vs. Ride
Cymbal,” “Percussion only” etc.). By selecting this option, you can hear a different variation each time play is pressed, so the
song sounds fresh each time. One time you will hear it with brushes, the next time with sticks and ride cymbals, etc.
Favor Brushes/Sticks: When selecting RealDrums styles to use for a style, Band-in-a-Box will use your preferences for brushes
and sticks. For example, if you choose “Favor Brushes,” Band-in-a-Box will always choose from among variations that include
brushes (when available).
Favor Artists: We have “artist” support. This allows you to choose among different drummers playing the same style. For
example, we have multiple artists playing the “JazzBrushes” style. You can set Band-in-a-Box to choose a different artist with
each play, or always choose a specific artist.
If RealDrums style not found, use other RealDrums style: This will replace the RealDrums that you don’t have with ones
that you do have.
Technical note: The text file a_pgmusic.ds provided by PG Music controls this, and users can make other files MySubs.ds if they make their
own RealDrums styles.
For this song only, use this RealDrum style: This will let the current song use the specific RealDrums style. Click on the [RD]
button to select a specific RealDrums style to use in a particular song. This will launch the RealDrums Picker with a list of all
available RealDrums styles. The [Clear] button clears the currently selected RealDrums for the song.
For this song, choose different ^variations with each play: When this is set, if you save a specific style with a song, you will
hear a new variation of that style each time you press PLAY, with different drum instruments.
Enable RealDrum style changes at any bar: This allows the RealDrums to change styles with MultiStyles, style changes, or
specific RealDrums style changes entered at any bar in the Edit Settings for Current Bar dialog (F5).
Amount of Reverb to add to Drums: Normally, no reverb is added to Drums, but if you want some reverb added, you can set
it here.
Slide Track: You should normally leave this at 0, unless you are having problems with synchronization between the MIDI
tracks and RealDrums.
Global Volume Adjust: If the RealDrums track is too loud or quiet in relation to the MIDI parts, you can adjust the volume
here. This will affect all RealDrums styles.
Adjust Push Velocity: If you find that RealDrums pushes are too loud, put a negative value in this field. Enter a positive value
if they are too soft.

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Adjust Shot Velocity: If you find that RealDrums shots are too loud, put a negative value in this field. Enter a positive value if
they are too soft.
[RD Demo] [SongDemo] [BB Styles]: These buttons will, for a chosen RealDrums style, enable you to (1) play the RealDrums
demo song, (2) show a menu of BB styles that would work with the Real Drum style and (3) play a song demo of various BB
styles that work with the Real Drum style.
[Install] […]: When the [Install] button is pressed, WAV files will be created from any RealDrums styles that are still WMA
files. Make sure that you have enough space available on your hard drive prior to installing the RealDrums. The small button
installs WAV files for a single folder.
Note: Usually the WAV files have already been created upon installation; if so, this feature isn’t needed.
[Archive] […]: This will erase the WAV files in the Drums folder when there is a smaller WMA available. The WAV files can
be restored by pressing the [Install] button. The small button archives files for a single folder.
Use a custom folder location for the RealDrums: You can choose any folder (e.g., E:\Drums) for your RealDrums. This
allows you to, for example, conserve space on your C:\ drive. If Band-in-a-Box cannot find your Drums folder, a yellow hint
message appears at boot up to alert you to that and tells you how to fix it.
Technical Note: The custom folder location is remembered in C:\bb\Preferences\intrface.bbw and C:\Users\Public\Ticket\Band-in-a-Box
Folder Locations.txt.

Selecting RealDrums - RealDrums Picker

The RealDrums Picker is used to assign a particular RealDrums style for just the one song you are working on. RealDrums
made by you (or others) that are added by you to the Drums folder also appear in the RealDrums Picker dialog.
The RealDrums Picker opens by several ways.
1. Press the R D Enter or R D 1 Enter keys.
2. Click on the [RealDrums] toolbar button and select RealDrums Picker Dialog, or Shift+click on this button.
3. Right-click (or double-click) on the Drums track button at the top of the main screen and choose RealDrums in the menu.
4. Click on the Drums track in the Mixer and choose RealDrums in the menu.
5. RealDrums can be added to any track, not just the Drums track, so you can have more than one drums track. To do this,
right-click on a track button and select Choose RealDrums.
6. Click on the RealDrums radio button in the Track Settings and Actions dialog.

A filter is available. Type a filter text (e.g., bossa) in the Filter by field, and press [Update], You will then see the list filtered to
show only RealDrums that have the word “bossa” somewhere in the title, memo, etc. If you separate terms with a space, each
term is searched for separately. So, a search for “Bossa Rock Ev 120,” will find any Bossa Rock styles with an Even feel that
would work with a tempo of close to 120. Adding a search term that has a number will filter for RealDrums that match the
tempo or within a compatible range. Pressing the [#] button allows you to quickly filter the list by many elements including feel,
time signature, RealDrums with notation, artists, etc. The [Show All] button will cancel the filter and show all RealDrums.
You can double-click on a RealDrums or on the Variation name of the RealDrums to audition each variation of the RealDrums.
For example, if you’ve found CountryWaltz^, you can now hear demos of the variations (CountryWaltz^1-HiHat,Ride,
CountryWaltz^2-Brushes etc.).

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 Each demo has a “band” version with all instruments and a “solo”
version with drums only. You can choose which of them plays first when
you double-click on the list, by the Band (on Double Click) checkbox.
Otherwise, press the [Band] or the [Solo] button. The demos play 4 bars
of “a” substyle, and then 4 bars of “b” substyle, using the current
RealDrums (left hand panel) and the variation (right-hand panel).
The preview sometimes plays files from the internet. You can download a file that is being played from the internet by pressing
the folder button. If the file is being played on your hard drive, this button will show the file in a folder. You can control the
volume of the demos with the speaker button.
The [Choose from Favorites] button opens a dialog that shows favorites followed by recently used RealDrums. The list can be
filtered with text string. For example, type “fusion” to find the ones with fusion in the name. This dialog also allows you to re-
arrange/add/remove your favorites.
You can right-click on the list to see a menu with commonly used functions. For example, you can toggle a favorite, list only
favorites, clear filter, find similar RealDrums, and show RealDrums compatible with the current styles.
The list can be sorted by any of the column headings.
- * Click on this column to enter an asterisk, indicating that this is a favorite style.
- Click on the name of the RealDrums style name that you want to select for the song. Names ending in a caret ^ have variations
available.
- ^ Clicking in the caret column will show the variations for the selected RealDrums style (if available).
- Genre is the type of music that the RealDrums style comes from, such as Jazz, Rock, or Country.
- Genre (more) suggests additional types of music that the RealDrums style might work for.
- /4 indicates the time signature, which is 4/4 by default. If the column is empty, the time signature is 4/4; if there is a 3 in this
column, the time signature is 3/4.
- Ev* indicates the feel of the RealDrums style, either Even or Swing.
- The listing in the 8 column indicates whether the meter is based on eighth notes (8) or sixteenth notes (16).
- Lo is the slowest tempo for which the RealDrums style is suited.
- Hi is the fastest tempo recommended for the style.
- X indicates a style with a tempo that is out of range for the song.
- N/A are styles not found in the Drums folder.
- Artist is the name of the drummer who recorded the RealDrums.
- # is the number of the RealDrums set for the style. This column also tells you whether a video or notation (RealChart) is
available for the RealDrums.
- The Stems column shows the number of microphones used for stems during the actual recording sessions.
Drum Stems: When you select a RealDrums that has drum stems, you will see what they are just below the list. Using the
checkboxes, you can load all stems, the selected stems, or the mix of all stems for your song. If you select all or individual
stems, each stem will be loaded to separate tracks, so you can control volume, pan, etc. for each stem using the Mixer.

Show RealDrums that are N/A: These are styles not found in the Drums folder, likely because they are add-on styles not
purchased yet. Press the [Rebuild] button and check the RealDrums Settings to confirm that you have the correct Drums folder
selected.
Show if Feel does not match will show a song where the drums are in Even feel and the style is Swing (or vice versa).
Show if Tempo is out of range will show styles that wouldn’t work well at the current song tempo. The acceptable range is
shown in the list of styles Lo/Hi (9th and 10th) columns.
Show RealDrums that are not Favorites (*): You can assign a style as one of your favorites by clicking in the first column.
Then you can sort by favorites or use this option to only see favorites.
Show RealDrums with stems: If this is checked, only RealDrums that include stems will be listed.
RealDrums for this song: This is the current RealDrums for this song. This can either come from the style, or a specific
RealDrums for this song, set in this dialog.
Tip: RealDrums in styles are assigned in the StyleMaker. Press the [Misc.] button or use the menu command Style | Misc. Settings to go to the
Misc. Style Settings dialog and make your selections in “RealDrums Settings.”
Simple Drums for this song (no fills): If this is enabled, RealDrums will play a simpler arrangement without fills.
For this song only, force MIDI drums: Set this if you want MIDI drums and want to override a RealDrums that is set in the
style.

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[Set to None]: This sets the drums to no RealDrums override for the song, and optionally also forces MIDI drums (i.e., no
RealDrums for the style either).
Timebase: You can select a timebase (normal, half-time, double-time, or triple-time) for any RealDrums.
For example, if you have:
- an even 16ths Folk drums track at tempo 90, then you can choose Half-Time, and it will play even 8 feel with a style at tempo
180.
- an even 8 feel style at tempo 190, then you can choose Double-Time, and it will play at tempo 95 (Cut-Time) even 16ths feel.
- a fast waltz style at tempo 150, then you can choose Triple-Time, and it will play with a slow 4/4 style at tempo 50, which
gives a triplet 12/8 feel.
Timebase can be stored with song, style, or RealDrums. If the RealDrums is named with the timebase appended, it will function
in that timebase. For example, “BossaBrushes” is a normal Ev 8 timebase, but “BossaBrushes [Double-Time]” would play this
in a Cut-Time ev 16 feel.
Memo is a memo description of the style. These are stored in C:\bb\Data\RDPGMemos.txt file. You can also add your own
memos in the User Comments box below.
The Artist Bio shows brief summaries of the careers of the top drummers featured in RealDrums. Double-click here to open the
Artist Browser, which lists all artists and allows you to see more info.
User Comments: You can type in your own comments about any style in this field and they will be saved in a file called
RDUserMemos.txt.
Variations: RealDrums styles ending in a caret (^) have variations available. They are listed here. Where there are two
instruments shown, such as Brushes/Sticks, the first one plays in the “a” substyle and the second in the “b” substyle. You can
double-click on each variation to hear the demo.
[RD Demo] loads and plays a demo of the chosen RealDrum style.
[Song Demo] shows Band-in-a-Box styles that will use this RealDrums style if “Substitute RealDrums” is selected. The song
demo for the style will get loaded.
[BB Styles] shows Band-in-a-Box styles that will use this RealDrums style if “Substitute RealDrums” is selected. The style will
get loaded if the menu selection is made.
The [Settings] button opens the RealDrums Settings dialog.
[Rebuild] builds the list of RealDrums present as folders in the C:\bb\Drums folder. If you add new RealDrums, press this
button to update the list. (These are stored in a C:\bb\Data\DrumFolderNames.txt file.)
[Copy List] saves the current list with all information to a tab-delimited .txt file and opens it in Notepad. In Notepad copy all
and paste it into a spreadsheet such as an Excel file. You can then apply a hierarchical sorting of the list.
[Defaults] returns the dialog to default settings, which will show all available styles.
[Play Now] loads the selected RealDrums and starts playback. If you haven’t played the song yet, since you haven’t generated
non-drums tracks, you will only hear drums. In that case, press Shift+click to generate all tracks.
The [Stop] button stops the song playback. Click (or Shift+click) on [Play Now] to resume.
The [Audition] button doesn’t load the style but instead uses your audio player to play a demo .WAV file for the style.
Press [OK] to make your selection.
Press [Cancel] to close the dialog without making a selection.
Note: When a song is loaded, played or saved, a yellow hint message will appear if any RealTracks or RealDrums are missing, listing the files
that are missing.

Changing RealDrums at any bar

The Edit Setting for Current Bar dialog opens with the menu command Edit | Bar Settings or with the F5 function key.
In this dialog, you can change RealDrums at the current bar.
The change can affect all choruses, or just a selected chorus.
The [RealDrums] button opens the RealDrums Picker to
select a new RealDrums from the list.
Click on the [Clear RD] button to remove the change.

RealDrums QuickList
This is the simpler dialog for choosing RealDrums, an alternative to the RealDrums Picker. It displays all available RealDrums
in a simple list, which can be easily filtered by genre, time signature, feel, and more. The list can be set to show only RealDrums
that are compatible with the current style of the song. You can also set the highlighted RealDrums as a prototype RealDrums to
find alternates to that RealDrums.
To open the dialog, right-click on the Drums track button, and select [QuickList] RealDrums in Song from the menu.

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 Tip: Pressing the R D 3 Enter keys also opens the dialog.

You can filter the list by genre, time signature, feel, tempo, and text. Use the [Set to Style: ] button to see RealDrums that are
compatible with the current style of the song. The [Set to RD: ] button allows you to set the highlighted RealDrums as a
prototype RealDrums so you can find alternates to that RealDrums. Press the [Clear] button to clear any filter.
Pressing the [Artist Bios] button opens the Artist Browser, which lists all RealDrums artists and allows you to see more info.
Multi-Drums
You can put multiple drum/percussion parts, drum loops, UserTracks drums, and even RealTracks on the same Drums track,
with volume mixer adjusting levels. For example, you can add single drums instruments (e.g., Tambourine and Shaker), a bass
drum loop, and/or UserTracks drums to BossaBrushes Drums track.
To do this, click on the Drums track button and go to Multi-Drums | Edit-Multi Drums for this song. You will then see
the Create Multi-Drums dialog.

Make sure that you enable the “Enable Multiple Drums” checkbox.

Then type a title for your Multi-Drums.

To add drums, click on the [...] button on an unused slot. This will show you a menu where you can choose a second
RealDrums, [single] drum/percussion (e.g., tambourine), loop, UserTracks, or RealTracks. You can adjust volume for each
selection with the “dB Offset” option.

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If you want to use a pre-made Multi-Drums, select the Choose Existing Multi-Drums menu option from the Drums track button
menu. This will list pre-made Multi-Drums. (Note: These drums are found in the Drums folder, and all have names ending in
[Multi-Drums].)

UserTracks
UserTracks allow anyone to create their own audio styles for use in Band-in-a-Box. With a UserTracks style, you can type in
any chords into Band-in-a-Box, and the UserTracks style you made will play that chord progression! For example, if you’ve
made a UserTracks style by recording yourself playing a guitar groove, you can then type any chords into Band-in-a-Box, and
the result will be that it will play your guitar groove over these completely new, original chord changes! You can even change
the tempo, or enter songs in ANY key, and it will still be able to play it!
You can make a UserTracks style in any digital audio workstation (or “DAW”), such as RealBand, Pro Tools, or Reaper, and
you don’t need Band-in-a-Box or RealBand to make the style (though you do need one of those programs to use the finished
style).
You can also download backing tracks to record along with.

There is much more choice here, including a variety of different genres of music, and a variety of different tempos. Each one,
however, will conform to either the Pop, Jazz, or Blues template. You do not NEED to use these backing tracks to make your
style, but they can make the process easier.
Selecting UserTracks in Songs
You can use the UserTracks in a similar manner to using RealTracks.
To select a UserTracks for a track, first select the track at the top of the screen. For example, if you want to add a UserTrack to
the Guitar Track, launch the menu on the Guitar track button (by right-click or double-click), and choose Select a UserTrack for
this Track.

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 An alternative to the menu is to select the Guitar track and then press the [UserTracks] button on the main screen.

Now you will see the Pick a UserTrack dialog.

You can preview UserTracks by double-clicking on the list or using the transport control buttons.
The speaker icon in the transport control allows you to control the volume of the demos.
You can select a timebase (normal, half-time, double-time, or triple-time) for any UserTracks.
Tip: UserTracks can be made and preset to a timebase by the user. For example, if you have a UserTrack in Ev
8 called “Santur,” you can clone the folder and rename the cloned one as “Santur [Double-Time].” Then it will
play in Double-Time Ev 16 half of the tempo.

Select a UserTrack and press OK. You will then see that UserTrack listed on the Guitar track on the Mixer.

Now the track behaves like RealTracks. Simply press the [Generate and Play] button to hear it.
Note: UserTracks support “Avoid transpositions in RealTracks” and “Ignore Slash Root of Slash Chords, except Bass Track” options in the
Song Settings dialog.
Tip: UserTracks work with rests. Just add rests to chords, and UserTracks will follow them. Note that there is no specific support for shots or
hold by UserTracks. They will just rest when these are encountered.

Adding new UserTracks

RealTracks are made by PG Music. UserTracks are made by you, or other Band-in-a-Box users. So you will have a different list
than displayed above. We include a small number of UserTracks with Band-in-a-Box package. There is a UserTracks forum in
the PG Music forum, where users can notify others about their UserTracks creations, and share them if they choose to.
For example, if your friend makes a UserTracks of his accordion playing, and wants to give it to you...
- He can name it whatever he likes, and has called it “Accordion, Rhythm CountryWaltz Sw 110.”
- He has sent you a ZIP file of this folder.
- You will unzip it to your UserTracks folder.
A UserTracks consists of a single Folder, with the name of the UserTracks as the name of the folder. To add the UserTracks to
your collection, you simply put the folder into the C:\bb\RealTracks\UserTracks folder. (Note: if you use a location like
H:\MyMusic\RealTracks as your RealTracks folder, then your UserTracks folder would be in
H:\MyMusic\RealTracks\UserTracks.)
Creating your own UserTracks
Creating your own UserTracks is a simple process! It consists of the following steps:
- Create a folder in the UserTracks folder (i.e., usually C:\bb\RealTracks\UserTracks) and let’s call it “Guitar, Acoustic, Brian
Fingerpicking Ev 140.”
- Now, in that folder, you need to put at least one Band-in-a-Box song. This song can have any chords but should have a wide
variety of chords and chord types. Let’s say you call that file MyGuitarPlaying1.sgu

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- For each BB song that you put in the folder, there needs to be a corresponding AUDIO file (WAV or WMA) that matches the
BB song. So, the name must be MyGuitarPlaying1.wav or MyGuitarPlaying1.wma. You can make that WAV file in any
program, (Band-in-a-Box, RealBand, Sonar, Pro Tools etc.). It needs to have a 2-bar lead-in like BB songs always have, and
of course it needs to be at the same tempo and be playing over the same chords as the BB file.
That’s it!
You now have a folder that looks like this, and you are ready to use your UserTracks.

To use it, follow the same routine as described above, opening the Pick a UserTracks dialog, where you will now see your
UserTracks listed with the others.

Now, you can leave it at that, or you can record more files, (i.e., more pairs of files with a Band-in-a-Box file and a
corresponding wav file). These can be any other names. And you simply add them to the folder. Band-in-a-Box will
automatically add these files to your UserTracks, simply by you putting them there.
UserTracks support 3/4 waltz time signature.
Just make a UserTracks as normal and save the Band-in-a-Box song with your UserTracks in 3/4 waltz time signature (i.e., save
using a waltz style). Make sure that the options.txt file in the folder says “ThisIsWaltz=true.”

You can find lots of help about making UserTracks on our website, and this page is a good start.
https://www.pgmusic.com/usertracks1.htm
UserTracks Tutorial
Part 1 - Making a basic UserTracks style
This tutorial will show you how to go about making a style, starting with the most basic, simple style that you can make, and
then progressing to other ways to make your style even better, with more features and greater variety.
The easiest way to start is by using one of our pre-made templates. You can find templates in the
C:\bb\Data\TemplatesForUserTracks folder, or download additional templates from pgmusic.com.
Each template contains .pdf chord charts and Band-in-a-Box files. The files are numbered PopSong_1_..., PopSong_2_..., etc.
You do not NEED to use these backing tracks to make your style, but they can make the process easier. For the most basic
UserTracks style you can make, you ONLY need to use Song_1. We will start off by showing you how to make a basic pop
style.
The first thing you need to do is download and unzip the template, UserTracks_Template_Files.zip. Out of the files from that
archive, you need to find and print PopSong_1_FirstSong.pdf. This is a 7-page chord chart. The next step is to set up your DAW
with the tempo you want your UserTracks style to be at. You are now ready to record your part.
The first two bars are allotted as a count-in, and will NOT be used in Band-in-a-Box, so your playing should begin in the DAW
at bar 3. This will correspond to bar 1 in the chart. You can then record the song in full (punching in, or doing retakes as much
as you like or need). You will notice that the chart follows basic Pop progressions (examples: I-VIm-IV-V; I-V-VIm-IV; etc.),
and that it is in the key of C for the first 80 bars, then switches to E for 80 bars, and then switches to G for 80 bars.
Once you have finished recording the entire chart, render the track you recorded to either a .wav or .wma file. The two bars at
the beginning for the count-in need to be in the final file.
Then, the audio file you made can be named whatever you like, for example: MyGuitarStyle.wav, AND, the Band-in-a-Box
template file (it has a file extension .SGU) has to be saved with the exact same name, which would have to be:
MyGuitarStyle.sgu). The only difference between the two names will be that your file ends with .wma or .wav, and the Band-in-
a-Box file ends with .sgu.

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To use the style you made, the files need to be placed in a particular place in the Band-in-a-Box folder. If Band-in-a-Box was
installed to C:\bb, then the files need to be in a subfolder of C:\bb\RealTracks\UserTracks. So, for example, if you wanted your
UserTracks name to be “My First Guitar UserTracks style,” then the two files would go in: C:\bb\RealTracks\UserTracks\My
First Guitar UserTracks style. Note: It is the folder name that determines the name of the style as it appears in Band-in-a-Box
or RealBand, NOT the names of the individual wav/wma/sgu files.
Once this is done, the style is now available for you to use in Band-in-a-Box or RealBand!
Part 2 - Adding to your basic style by recording more material.
Once you have the basic style done from Part 1 of this tutorial, you may find that you want to add more material to make your
style even better. There are several reasons for this. To start with, that first basic template has a limited number of chord types.
For example, the first song of the pop template only uses major or minor triads. Another reason is that certain features won’t
work with only the first song recorded. Endings of songs, for example, will stop at the right time, but you won’t have dedicated
recorded endings. The final reason you may want to record more material is simply to have more variety in your song. With
only the first song recorded, when you use the style you may notice certain licks repeating. The more material you record, the
less likely it is that you will notice that kind of repetition when the style is used.
So, we have specific templates set up to address these different issues. So, you are free to record some or all of the additional
templates. You can pick and choose if there are certain issues that are more important to you and your style, or you can record
all of them to make sure your style can handle ANY musical situation!
For all of the additional templates, the method of recording them is exactly the same as with the first song.
When the recordings are finished, again you simply need to render your recorded track to wav or wma, save it in the
C:\bb\RealTracks\UserTracks folder in the same location as the song1 file, and give it a unique name, which needs to be the
same name as the corresponding Band-in-a-Box .sgu file.
When this is done, when the UserTracks style is used in Band-in-a-Box or RealBand, all additional material you put in that
folder will now be part of the style! For most of the additional templates, the method is EXACTLY the same as it was for
recording song1.
You can find lots of help about making UserTracks on our website, and this page is a good start.
https://www.pgmusic.com/usertracks1.htm
UserTracks Development Settings for Current Bar
The [UserTracks Development] button in the Edit Settings for Current Bar dialog (F5) opens
a dialog with advanced settings for making UserTracks.
The dialog allows you to determine how the bars of music you recorded for your UserTracks will be applied by Band-in-a-Box
in the song. For example, you can completely exclude a particular bar or make it only play in a particular place like an ending or
a fill.

Bar # and Chorus # indicate the current song location.

This is the bar where the settings will be applied, but you
can apply them to a range of bars if you enter a list (3,5,7)
and/or range (10-20, 25-28) of bars, separated by commas,
in the field under Enter a Range of Bars.
Don’t include this bar in the UserTracks excludes the
current bar (or range of bars, if set) from the UserTracks
and will never be used.
Ending starts on this bar (4 bar ending) sets the current
bar as the first bar of the 4-bar ending.
Don’t start a new Riff on this bar prevents the current
bar from being used as the start of a new riff. This is useful
if the bar has sustained notes carried over from the
previous bar and no new attack of a note.
Don’t End a Riff at the start of this bar means that the
current bar (or list of bars in the edit control) will not be
used to end a riff at the start of the bar. This is useful if the
previous bar doesn’t have a defined ending for a riff.
Only choose this bar if the key matches allows the bar to
be used only if the user’s song key matches the key of this
song. So, if this is the IV chord, it would only get chosen if
it will be the IV chord in the user’s song.
This bar is simple sets the bar to use simple riffs.

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Only Play this for a fill sets the current bar as a fill, which will only be played where the user’s song is also a fill.
Only play this for a post fill (after a fill) sets the current bar (or list of bars in the edit control) to only play after a fill in the
user’s song.
Odd/Even must match sets the current bar to play in the user’s song only if the odd/even status (bars after a part marker)
matches the user’s song.
Always play this bar if it matches means that the current bar (or list of bars) will always get played, as long as its chord and
other settings are compatible. It overrides any other riffs that match.
Once is enough (don’t repeat this) sets the bar to only be played once in a song. Use for an unusual riff that you don’t want
repeated.
Bar/Beat Markers: You can set the location of the bar or beat markers if the riff doesn’t start on the bar or beat. You can set the
location in ms offset, and also set the riff marker type, begin and/or end. The offsets can be set visually in the Audio Edit
window.

Audio Controls for RealTracks and RealDrums

Tone Control
There is a bass/treble Tone control for individual tracks with RealTracks or RealDrums, so you can easily adjust the bass/treble
EQ for any RealTrack. The Tone settings save with the song.
Choose an instrument and then use the tone control to adjust the tone from -18 (maximum bass) to +18 (maximum
treble). Default is 0.
Audio Reverb Control
There is a Reverb control for individual tracks with RealTracks or RealDrums, so you can easily add reverb (0
to 127) for any RealTrack. Reverb type is also settable and saved with the song.
Auto-Add Reverb
There is also a feature that automatically adds reverb to RealTracks, according to instrument type. No reverb is added to the
Bass part, for example, but most instruments get reverb.
This feature defaults to on, but you can turn it off in the PG Music Reverb dialog, which opens by pressing the
[Plugins] button and choosing the menu command Audio Reverb Dialog.
If you just want more or less reverb added, you can adjust the Strength %. For
example, the default Band-in-a-Box reverb setting is 40 for most tracks. If you set the strength to 75%, the setting becomes 30.
Reverb Settings
The default is a “room” type of reverb, but you can also set the type of reverb. To do this, press the [Plugins] button and
choose the menu command Audio Reverb Dialog, and adjust the various parameters in the PG Music Reverb dialog.
Enable reverb (Global) / Enable reverb for this song only: Reverb can
be enabled/disabled globally for all songs, in which case the setting will
still appear, but no reverb will be applied. Or you can enable/disable the
audio reverb for the current song only. This will save some CPU cycles if
you are using a slower machine.
Click on the green Select Preset arrow to open the list of presets. This list
will show only the “Band-in-a-Box Default Reverb” until you save some
presets of your own.

As you adjust the settings, they will be applied to the current song. The
[Swap “Default”] button toggles between your current settings and the
default settings. This allows you to hear the effect of the changes you
make to the settings.
Use the row of “room” buttons to load typical settings for different types
of spaces. These buttons are a convenient way to either apply a particular
effect or to load settings that you can then tweak to make your own preset.
Pre-Delay is the time delay of first reflections.
Decay is the time it takes for reverb to decay. Reverb time is measured as RT60, the time it takes for reverb to decay to a level -
60 dB below the dry signal level.

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LF Roll off gradually reduces the bass frequencies. If you can’t add enough reverb because the sound gets too muddy, try
increasing the LF Roll off slider. It is adjustable between 50 Hz and 500 Hz.
HF Roll off is the rate at which the high frequencies die away as the reverb decays. Rooms with hard surfaces are typically
bright, but rooms with soft surfaces are usually darker. It is adjustable between 1 KHz (dark) to 11 KHz (bright).
Density is the density of low-level echoes near the end of the reverb tail. High Density settings add sheen to the sound.
Level adjusts the final level of the plug-in.
Typical Reverb Settings:
- A large hall might have long Pre-Delay, long Decay, and moderate Density.
- A hard, large space such as a Gymnasium might have long Pre-Delay, high Density and high HF Roll off.
- A soft large space such as a concert hall with carpet, padded seats, hangings, might have medium Density and low HF Roll off.
- A small hard space such as a tile washroom might have short Pre-Delay, medium-to-long Decay, high Density, and high HF
Roll off.
- A small soft space such as a large living room might have short Pre-Delay, short Decay, medium-to-low Density, and low HF
Roll off.
Enable the Auto-add reverb to RealTracks option to automatically apply preset amounts of reverb to RealTracks according to
instrument type. No reverb is added to the Bass part, for example, but most instruments get reverb. If you just want more or less
reverb added overall, you can adjust the Strength %. For example, the default Band-in-a-Box reverb setting is 40 for most
tracks. If you set the strength to 75%, the Band-in-a-Box setting becomes 30.
With the [Save as Default Reverb] button, you can save the current settings as the default reverb.
Click on the [Restore Defaults] button to go back to the original “factory” reverb settings for Band-in-a-Box Default Reverb
You can save your reverb types as presets, and the current settings will also be saved with the song in the C:\bb\DX
Settings\PGReverbSettings.bin file.
To save the current settings to a preset, type in a name for your preset in the “Preset Name” field.

Then click on the red Save Preset arrow and choose a location in the Preset list. You can write over an existing name.

A prompt will ask you to confirm that you want to save the preset. Select [Yes] to save the new preset to the chosen location.

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 Chapter 8: Notation and Printing
Band-in-a-Box offers a variety of notation and printing features, both for viewing parts on-screen as they play and for printing
them as sheet music.
To view the notation, open the Notation window by pressing the notation button on the main screen. Close the
window by pressing this button again.

Tip: You can view the window in full screen with Window | Fullscreen Chord Sheet View or with Ctrl+T keys.
Band-in-a-Box offers multiple modes of notation for different purposes. The notation defaults to Standard Notation mode; other
modes are selected with buttons on the Notation window toolbar.
Standard Notation to display or print Notation and enter lyrics. The grand piano staff and/or guitar tablature with notes,
chord symbols, and lyrics.
Editable Notation to enter or edit notation. A special staff with time divisions for mouse-based editing.
Staff Roll Notation to enter or edit notes, velocity, and duration. The note heads are shown with editable velocity and
duration lines.
Lead Sheet Notation to display or print notation as full arrangements or in fake sheet style. This is a full screen notation
window with notes, chord symbols, and lyrics.

Exploring the Notation Window

With the Notation window open, the toolbar at the top of the window gives you access to its many features and options.
Options Button This opens the Notation Window Options dialog.
Lead Sheet Button Press to launch the Lead Sheet window.
Print Button Press this button to print the notation to any printer supported by your Windows® system.
3-stage buttons to select a Notation window mode - Standard Notation, Editable Notation, or Staff
Notation Mode Buttons Roll mode.
Current Note This box displays the name of the note that will be inserted when you click the mouse.
These determine whether a Note or a Rest will be inserted when the mouse is clicked.
Note / Rest checkboxes
Mono Mode When this is selected, the notation is entered as monophonic (one note only) to avoid extra notes in
a single note melody line.
Clean Notation The Clean Notation Mode cleans up the notation by eliminating display of redundant grace notes
and glitches for easier reading.
Time Signature Notation supports various time signatures (4/4, 3/4, 2/4, 2/2, 12/8, 9/8, and 6/8). Press this button
to select one of the time signatures from the list.
Visual Transpose This button allows you to visually transpose the notation.
Click on the button to select a track to display, or hover the mouse cursor over it and use the
Track Selector mouse wheel to quickly switch tracks.
Playable Track If you press the button and select Enable Playable Track from the drop-down menu, any notes you
enter will be heard during playback unlike RealChart notes, which are silent.
Event List Editor You can edit events including all MIDI events and lyric events using the Event List Editor.

Lyrics Button To enter note-based lyrics press the Lyrics button on the Notation toolbar.

Zoom Buttons The zoom buttons make it easy to increase or decrease the font size of the notation. Holding down
the Ctrl key and pressing these buttons results in finest possible incremental adjustment in size.
Section Text Add or edit Section Text on the Notation.

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 Scrub Mode When this button is pressed, you can drag the mouse over notes to hear them.
This will generate a vocal track using an online third-party vocal synthesizer called Sinsy for a
Generate Vocal Synth MIDI melody track with lyrics.
Video Tutorial This will launch an internet browser and show a video about Notation window.
Button
Bars per Line This allows you to quickly change the number of bars per line.

Big Note Mode This will display notation with larger font size and note names within note heads. Press the button
again to return to the normal size.
Loop Screen Click on this button and the song will loop the bars shown on the notation screen.
The Notation window displays an improved system of Bar Lyrics, Section Text, and Bar Settings, and additional chord mode
(Roman Numeral, Nashville Notation, etc.) above the Standard chord symbols. Click on the [Chord Display] button on the
toolbar, go to Layers, and make a selection.

Drum Notation Support

Play the song and open the Notation window. Then, select the Drums track and you will see drum notation.

In the clef area, you see a guide telling you what drum notes are used in that line of notation (e.g., Kick,
Snare, HiHat).

For the Melody or Soloist track, you need to set the track type to “Drums” either in the Notation Window Options dialog or
with the menu Melody (or Soloist) | Track Type.
Note: For this to work properly, you need to have the Melody track with drums that are using GM Drum notes.)
Chord Step Advance
Use the Ins and Del keys on the numeric keypad to step advance on any track by one chord. The track MIDI data can display on
the on piano, guitar, lead sheet, drums, and notation window(s).

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This feature advances the current track and displays the next group of notes on that track. For example, if the current track is set
to the Melody track, pressing the chord advance buttons will display the next note or chord of the melody. The Chord Advance
feature is a great way to study the notes being played, and to navigate around the track.
Note: In this context, “chord” is referring to any group of notes, or a single note, that occurs in a track at or near the same time. You can adjust
the width of what Band-in-a-Box determines a “chord” to be in the Notation Options - More dialog.

Standard Notation Mode

This mode displays the notation for any individual track and allows the entry of chords and lyrics. Features include:
- Notation display for the Bass, Piano, Drums, Guitar, Strings, Melody, or Soloist track.
- Optional display of guitar chord diagrams.
- As the song plays, the notes that are sounding are highlighted in red. This helps with sight reading or following the music.
- You can set the notation to scroll either 1 or 2 bars ahead of the music without interfering with your view of the current
notation.
- Handles jazz eighth notes and triplet figures correctly.
- Double-clicking on the window or pressing the space bar plays the song from the current time location.
- Automatic options such as auto durations, clean notation, mono display, minimize rests, hard rests, and engraver spacing
produce very musical and readable notation.
- Beamed notes are automatically given slanted beams.
- Groups of 5 notes will automatically display as groups of 3+2 or 2+3 or can be set this way manually. If
you’d prefer to see them as a group of 5 notes, you can right-click on the time line, and set the resolution to
5 for that beat.
Right-click menu for Standard Notation
This menu opens with a right-click in the Standard Notation window.
Use this menu to access major editing features and
dialogs. You can change to another notation mode by
selecting it in the list.

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Keystroke Commands
To change between notation views, press Ctrl+Alt+N.
To open the Print Options dialog, press Ctrl+P.
To enable the screen loop, press 1 on your numeric keypad.
To jump 4 bars ahead, press the Down Cursor key.
To step 4 bars back, press the Up Cursor key.

Editable Notation Mode

Enter the Editable Notation mode from the notation screen with a single click on the Editable Notation button.
In the Editable Notation mode, the time line is more visible as it shows with a thick yellow vertical line. You can play the song
from the current location by pressing the space bar or double-clicking on the time line. You can enter, move, and edit notes and
rests using standard mouse techniques – point and click, drag and drop, and right-click to open the Note Edit dialog.

This is the screen for step-entry of a melody or for editing existing parts. Notice the grid of vertical lines, which sub-divide each
beat. These lines indicate where the notes will be placed according to the resolution of the song.
When mousing over notes in this window, summary information about the note is displayed
(pitch/channel/velocity/duration).
To enable this feature, click on the [More] button in the Notation Options dialog to open the Other
Notation Options dialog. Then select the “Show Popup Hint for Note Properties” checkbox.
Easy Method of Guitar Tab Entry
Click on the string (on the tab), then click on the note (on notation, or on-screen guitar) to get it entered on that string/fret. To
access this feature, for the Melody (or Soloist) track, first set menu Melody | Track Type to “Guitar.” Then open the Notation
window and choose Editable mode. You will now see a guitar tab below the treble clef. Highlight a note using the Shift+Arrow
(Right/Left) keys. When a note is highlighted in red, you can click on the tab on the string that you would like the note played
on. This will change the note to that string, and the tab will be updated to reflect this.
For Editable Notation with Guitar Tab, you can easily change the string for a note, by dragging the note from one-tab string to
another.

Select the Melody track in the Notation window.

Enter the Editable mode.
And set the track type to Guitar (via main menu Melody - Track Type = Guitar).
Now you have Editable Notation and tab. After you insert notes on the notation, you can drag notes from one-tab string to
another to change the channel and fret position that plays on the guitar.
For example, here you can drag the “1” down a
string to have the middle C note played on the
third string instead of the second.

Resolution
The resolution can be changed in the Notation Options dialog, but the program automatically sets the resolution to the correct
value based upon the style that is in use.
- Swing styles use 3 lines to divide each beat into eighth note swing triplets.
- Straight styles use 4 lines to divide each beat into sixteenth notes.

Example of swing (triplet) resolution. Example of straight (16ths) resolution.

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Beat Resolution
The user can manually set the resolution for any beat in the Beat Resolution dialog, which opens with a right-click on the time
line. You can also open this dialog by right-clicking on the window and selecting Change Beat Resolution from menu.

Setting the “Treble Clef Resolution for this Beat” to 5

allows a group of five notes to be placed on one beat.

Entering Notes
To insert a new note on the staff move the mouse to the location that you want. If you want beat 1, move to the first dotted line
in the bar. Click on the staff over the note that you want.
Confirmation dialogs show warnings to prevent accidental entry of a duplicate note (same pitch near same time) and of a very
high or very low note (large # of ledger lines).
The Current Note box in the toolbar will give you the name of the note that you’re on.
Click the mouse to insert the note:
- To insert a sharp, hold down the Shift key as you click.
- To insert a flat, hold down the Ctrl key as you click.
- To insert a natural, hold down the Alt key as you click.
Brackets ( ) are drawn around accidentals after a bar line as a courtesy, where no accidental is required.

How is the length of the notes determined?

Band-in-a-Box uses an intelligent auto-duration feature to determine how long the note should be. Auto-durations mean that you
can enter a lead sheet style melody by just clicking once per note, dramatically speeding up the entry of notation.
Any note that is entered will initially have a duration of 2 bars (2 whole notes). When the next note is put in 2 beats later, Band-
in-a-Box will adjust the duration of the previous note to just shorter than 2 beats. This means that you don’t have to worry about
durations at all and can simply point and click to enter the notes where you want them. If you want to override the auto duration,
you can edit the note using the right-click menu, which will permit you to type the exact duration that you want.
Entering Notes Entirely with Keystrokes
There’s a keystroke entry mode, which lets you enter a melody entirely using keystrokes. The keystrokes are N to enter a note,
Up/Down Cursor to change its pitch, M to enter an additional note a third above the existing note, Left/Right Cursor to move
the time line, and R to enter a rest.
Hit the N key to enter a note at the current time line.

While the note is highlighted, use the Up/Down Cursor keys to change its pitch.

If you want to add a note a third above the existing note on the current time line, hit the M key.

Use the Right/Left Cursor keys to move the time line.

Hit the R key to enter a rest at the current time line.

Entering Drum Notes

You can enter drum notes to the Drums track or the Melodist/Soloist track with the track type set to Drums. Right-click on the
window and use the Insert (or change) Drum Note menu item. For drum notes shown on the left in the drum guide (e.g., China,
Splash, Crash2, etc.), you can click on the corresponding vertical position of the drum note you want.

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Entering Playable Track Notes
You can customize the RealTracks (or RealDrums/MIDI/MIDI SuperTracks) performance by adding your own notes. You will
then hear those notes using a Hi-Q sound created from the RealTracks recording. This means you can get the RealTracks to play
the notes you want at key parts of the performance, either augmenting or replacing what the RealTracks is playing, for any
sections in the song.
For RealTracks, the notes you see are RealCharts, which are silent MIDI. You can see them, but they don’t actually play during
playback. With the Playable RealTracks feature, you can make some of these notes playable.
To enter Playable Track notes, press the [PT] button and select Enable Playable Track from the drop-down menu. You will
then see a message to confirm that a Hi-Q patch plugin will be installed on the track. Press OK to proceed.
Now, the button gets the green borders to indicate that you are in the Playable Track mode. In this mode, any note you enter
will be heard during playback unlike RealCharts notes.
The notes you have entered show in green and will be heard during playback along with the generated accompaniment. But you
would want to have your own notes play in place of the generated accompaniment. So, press the [PT] button, select Create Mute
Region to mute generated accompaniment from the drop-down menu, and set a region in the dialog. This will add a green line at
the top. When you play the song, the generated accompaniment in that region won’t be heard, but the green notes you have
entered will be heard. If you regenerate the track, it will be outside of this is region.

There are other useful tools in the [PT] button drop-down menu. For
example, Make notes in selected area playable notes allows you to
change all notes in the region you specify to playable RealTracks notes.
There are also options to change volume of the playable notes in the
selected area, choose a different SFZ sound, etc.
Set MIDI Volume (and velocity) of Playable SFZ Sound opens a dialog
with settings for MIDI volume and velocity. MIDI volume is 0-90, so if it
is 90, you can’t make it higher, but the MIDI velocity can be set
separately and you can make that louder or softer.

Entering Rests
Insert a rest by holding the back-quote key (tilde key without pressing Shift) then clicking on the Notation window. Another
way to enter a rest is to click on the Rest checkbox and then point and click where you want the rest to appear. This
automatically shortens the duration of the previous note.
Tip: If it is important to see rests less than a quarter note, make sure you de-select the “Minimize Rests” checkbox in the Options dialog.

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Forced Rests (Hard Rests)
This allows you to insert a rest in the notation, which will be in effect even if you have Minimize Rests set to false. For example,
we are able to display a 16th note rest even though the Minimize Rests feature is on. To do this, click on the [Rest] button and
then click on the notation at the location that you’d like a 16th note rest. The Hard Rest will show up in blue in the editable
notation window and can be removed by holding the DEL key and clicking on the rest.
Moving a note in time
If you want to change the start time of a note, drag the note with the left mouse button to the new location. This is a simple way
to move the note. Alternatively, you could edit the note numerically with the right mouse button.
Changing the pitch of a note
Similarly, you can drag the note vertically to change the note value and release it when you’re on the note you want. Hold down
the Shift, Ctrl, or Alt key to have the note inserted as a sharp, flat, or natural respectively.
Insert Bends in Notation
In the Editable Notation window, any note can be made into a bend by right-clicking on the note and changing its type to
“Guitar Bend” with the Edit Note command.
The “Quarter Step” option will make a bend displayed as a quarter step below the
target note.

Right-click menu for Editable Notation

A right-click in the Editable Notation window will open this menu.

Edit Note opens the Note dialog and lets you edit the current note.
Delete Note deletes the current note.
Forced Accidental lets you quickly add an accidental to the current note.
Insert (or change) Drum Note enters a drum note. (Note: This menu item will appear
for Drums track or Melody/Soloist track with the track type set to Drums.
Edit Current Chord: This opens a text box with the name of the chord at the current
location. Type in any changes and press Enter or Tab to return to the Editable
Notation window.
Duplicate previous groups of notes quickly duplicates the previous chord (a group of
notes on the same location) without having to reenter it.
Delete Highlighted Red Notes deletes all notes that are currently highlighted in red.
Change Beat Resolution allows you to change the beat resolution of the current beat.
Insert Lyrics allows you to enter note-based lyrics.
Edit Lyrics opens the lyrics event list editor.
Edit Section Text opens the Text Events list where section text can be inserted,
edited, or deleted.
Insert Section Text opens the Section Text Event dialog where either regular or
boxed section text is entered along with its time and vertical position in the window.
Precise Placement Section Letters: Select a letter or number from the list and it will be inserted at the current location of the
time line bar. Use this same item to remove section letters/numbers.
Bar-Based Section Letters: Select a letter or number from the list and it will be inserted at the top of the bar line so that it
doesn’t overwrite chords or notes.
Notation Symbols: The notation symbols are entered from the Notation Event dialog, which is accessed from the right-click
menu in the Editable Notation window. This dialog lets you insert (or remove) notation symbols such as,
Slur Staccato Marcato
Crescendo Accent Staccatissimo
Decrescendo Legato Trill
Select a notation symbol from those listed and the Notation Event dialog will open. In this dialog, you can further define the
event and its precise location, then press [OK - Insert Event] to insert it into the notation. Use the [OK - Remove Event] to
delete an existing event that is no longer needed.

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 The Event Type list box lets you choose the event type (slur,
decrescendo, etc.).
The Length of Event field determines the length of a slur,
crescendo, or decrescendo. The length is specified in beats and
ticks. If an event is a “single-peg” event, such as a staccato or
accent, then this field will cause multiple events to be inserted if
the range is greater than zero (and the range spans multiple pegs).
If you had highlighted an area of the Notation window prior to
right-clicking on it (to launch the pop-up menu and choose the
notation symbols menu item) then this field is set based on the
length of the highlighted area.
Note: The highlighted area does not actually include the very last peg at
the very edge of the highlighted area.
The Clef field, if present, indicates the clef in which the event will be inserted (or removed from). Most events affect only one
clef at a time, and therefore you must choose the clef and this field will be preset based on where you had initially right-clicked
on the Notation window (you did this to get the pop-up menu that launches this dialog). For example, if you had right-clicked
on the treble clef, then this will be set to treble.
When Snap to notes toward beginning / end of range is enabled slurs, crescendos, and decrescendos will be based on notes
that exist at the beginning and end of the specified range.
The Offset field, if present, lets you adjust the vertical position of an event (slurs or chord height).
The Start Time field is the start time of the event (in Measures:Beats:Ticks).
[OK - Insert Event] exits this dialog and then inserts the event into the notation track.
[OK - Remove Event] exits this dialog and then removes the event (if it exists in the specified time range) from the notation
track.
Cleanup Orphaned Notation Controller Events: This command will remove notation symbol events (such as staccato) that are
no longer close enough to a note to display properly.
Chord height adjustment: Use this to adjust the height of a certain chord by adjusting the “Offset:” value in the Notation Event
dialog. Note that a positive value moves the chord symbol lower, and vice versa.
Modes: Clicking on another notation mode will change to that screen while staying at the same location in the song.
Vocal Synth (Auto): Your Melody or Soloist track with lyrics can be rendered to a vocal audio track by sending it to the 3rd
party vocal synthesizer Sinsy. With the “Auto” command, your song will be sent automatically to the song server and returned
as an audio file on the Audio track. This may take a few minutes. When the vocal synth has been generated, the Import Audio
File dialog opens. Press [OK] to import it to the Audio track.
Manually generate Vocal Synth track: With this command, Band-in-a-Box will generate a file named Sound.XML and save it in
C:\bb\Data\SRequest. Use your browser to navigate to www.sinsy.jp and upload the xml file. A file named sound.wav will be
returned and loaded into the Audio track of your song.
Editing Note Values
Right-click on a note. This brings up a variation of the right-click window with added commands for editing or deleting notes.
Click on Edit Note to launch the Note dialog. In the Note dialog, you can manually change the characteristics of a note by
entering the exact values you wish for any given note. For example, you can change the velocity and duration by increments of 1
tick, as well as the note’s pitch and relative positioning in the bar.
There are spin buttons in the note attributes window. Holding the spin
increments continuously, and Shift-clicking (or right-clicking) increments by a
higher amount.
Shift+clicking on the spin buttons changes:
- The pitch of a note by an octave instead of a semitone.
- The velocity, duration, or time stamp by 5 instead of 1.
For example, to change the octave of a note, Shift+click (or right-click) on the
spin arrows.

Select a region of notation to edit

To select a region of the notation you can Shift+click on the end point to easily select a large area.
- Select a small region by dragging the mouse.*
- Enlarge the region by Shift+clicking on the end point.

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 *Note: Shift+click is also used to enter a sharp (#) note, so the selection via Shift+click requires that a small region be already selected.
Force Accidental - If a note is being displayed as a sharp, but you want it to appear as a flat (or vice versa), you can force that
here. Notes like Fb, Cb, E#, B# can be entered. To do this, right-click on a note (like F), and set the forced accidental to #, and
the note will appear as E#.
Note Type - You can choose for the note to be Normal, Invisible (note will sound but will not appear in regular notation),
Guitar Bend (a B will appear above the note), Hammer-On, Pull-Off, or Guitar Slide. Note that the guitar bend is for notation
only and does not affect the sound of the note.
Keystroke Note Editing
You can easily edit notes using only keystrokes. By stepping through the notes one-by-one, when a note is highlighted you can
change the pitch using the cursor keys, and other values (timing, duration, channel) with other hotkeys. This speeds up editing of
notes. To use this function, you do the following:
1. Press Ctrl+W to open the Notation window and Ctrl+Alt+N to switch to the Editable or Staff Roll mode.
2. Move to the note that you want to edit with the Shift+ Left Cursor or Shift+Right Cursor keys. This will highlight the
current note. Note that if you want to highlight the current chord (a group of notes), press the Ctrl+Left Cursor or
Ctrl+Left Cursor keys instead).
3. With the note highlighted in red, use the Up Cursor or Down Cursor keys to change the pitch of the note. You will hear the
pitch change as the note changes.
4. Use the Left/Right Cursor keys to change the note’s start time, duration, channel, or velocity (depending on the setting of
the “Right/Left Cursor Edits” field in the Notation Window Options dialog. Use the Ctrl+Alt+Right/Left Cursor keys to
change the note time by +/- 5 ticks (120 ticks per beat). (Note: Some graphics drivers may use the Ctrl+Alt+Right/Left
Cursor keys to rotate the screen in 90 degrees right/left. If that’s the case, you need to disable it in order to use those keys
for changing note times in the Notation window. You can do this in your graphics control panel, which opens by clicking on
the desktop and selecting Graphics Properties.)
5. Press the Esc key or [Stop] button when you’re done.
Section Text for Notation
You can add custom Section Text and Boxed Text messages at any position in the notation track, with optional box to
appear around the text.
To put a section text comment on the notation track:

- Open the Notation window, and switch to the Editable Notation mode.
- Right-click on the track at the point that you want to enter the section text. Then, select Insert Section Text from the menu.
- This launches the Section Text Event dialog, which allows you to type in the text. You can set the Text Event Type to
“Boxed” or “Regular.”

Easy Entry of Section Text on Notation Window

Typing a backslash “\” followed by any text puts that text at the beginning of the current bar as a boxed section text message.
For example, \Hello would put “Hello” in a boxed section text event.
Typing \ launches the edit dialog for the section text.

Type the section text that you want, such as “Guitar Solo,” and then press Enter.

This text can be entered once per bar. You can use this for section headings, or even to enter lyrics bar by bar.

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Staff Roll Notation Mode
Click on the Staff Roll notation mode button to enter the Staff Roll mode.

This mode is similar to the Editable Notation mode, except that the beats begin right on the bar line. You can see the duration of
the note visually represented by a horizontal blue line and the note’s velocity displayed as a vertical blue line.
Tip: If you can’t see these lines, press the [Opt.] button to check that “Show Note Durations, Show Velocity Lines,” and “Show Bar/Beat Lines”
options are enabled.

Using the Mouse to Edit Velocity and Duration

There is an additional function available in this mode: right mouse drag. Place the mouse cursor on the note head and hold
down the right-mouse button. Then, starting at the note head, drag the cursor horizontally to set the note’s duration, or drag it
vertically to set the note’s velocity.

Piano Roll Window

For advanced editing of notes plus graphic controller editing, go to the Piano Roll window, either by selecting the [Piano
Roll] button on the toolbar, or the Window | Piano Roll Window menu item.

Notation Window Options

Press the [Opt.] button in the Notation window to open the Notation Window Options dialog. The dialog also opens with the
[Notation] button in the Preferences dialog (Ctrl+E).

Track Type: You can set the track type to use for the Melody or Soloist track. Normally you’d leave it to “Single Channel,” but
you can also set it to other types.
“Multi (16)-Channel” - All MIDI channel assignments are preserved and output on playback. This would be useful for
importing an entire MIDI file and playing it from the Melody channel using a silent style.

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“Guitar” - MIDI channels 11 to 16 are assigned to the guitar strings 1 to 6. Correct guitar tablature replaces the bass clef, the
notation will be up an octave, and guitar channel assignments are saved with MIDI files.
“Piano” - In this mode, channels 8 and 9 are treated as the left and right hand of a piano part.
Selecting any one of Bass, Ukulele, Mandolin, Banjo (5-string), or Violin will display the correct tablature in the Notation
window and the correct fretboard in the Guitar window.
Set the track to match any of the 11 alternate guitar tunings, such as DADGAD, Open G, or Double Drop D, supported by Band-
in-a-Box. Then you will see the correct notes on the guitar fretboard, in the notation and tablature.
If the track has drums that use GM Drum notes, you can select “Drums” to see drum notation.
Triplet Resolution (Swing): Band-in-a-Box automatically sets the resolution whenever a style is loaded. When a style has a
triplet feel (such as a jazz swing or a shuffle style), Band-in-a-Box selects Triplet Resolution. This ensures that jazz eighth notes
(swing triplets) are handled correctly. When a style with a straight feel loads (Pop, Latin), the Triplet Resolution setting is
automatically turned off. Then the notation shows even eighth notes, not triplets, and each note and duration is rounded to the
nearest sixteenth note when displaying the music.
Show Bar/Beat Lines: This setting is for the Staff Roll mode only. When turned off (unchecked) only the staff lines will show,
helpful for editing note Duration and Velocity lines.
Show Note Durations: A Staff Roll mode setting to show or hide the horizontal Duration lines.
Duration Line Color (Green /Blue): There are two color choices for the Duration lines, green or blue.
The [Update] button applies the changes made in this dialog. Pressing [OK] will have the same effect.
Snap to grid lines: If this is checked, the inserted note will be lined up with the closest grid line. This is similar to the way a
graphics or typesetting program aligns elements accurately on a page. This means that you don’t have to click exactly on the
beat to have the note inserted precisely on the beat.
Scroll Ahead: The Notation window can be set to scroll 1 or 2 bars ahead of the music without interfering with your view of the
current notation. To enable this feature, select the number of bars (1 or 2) you wish to scroll-ahead. Select zero bars to disable
this feature. When the notation scroll-ahead feature is enabled, the lyrics will also scroll ahead.
Highlight playback notes in Red: Good sight-readers who like to read ahead can use this option to disable the highlighting of
notes in red as the song is playing so it won’t be distracting.
Note Colors: Notation can display notes in different colors based on absolute note names or relative to chord or key. Colors are
definable; the default color scheme is one that was introduced by the Russian composer Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915).
Colored notes will appear in color for printout on color printers or when saved in a color graphics file. Pressing the [Edit] button
launches the Note Color Editor dialog. Change the colors by clicking on the color above the note name. Pressing the [OK-
Save] button will close the dialog and save the file as C:\bb\Data\default.NCL. You can also save/load different NCL files for
different color sets.
Note Names: There is an option to display note names in the center of the note head. You can display absolute note names (A,
Bb etc.) or you can display numbers relative to the key or the current chord. This is helpful for learning to read music.
Combined with the ability to display large font sizes, this achieves the big note look common to “EZ-2-Play” music books.
Channel numbers can also be displayed on the notation. When editing notes, it is often helpful to see the channel number of each
note. By setting Note Names to “Channel Numbers” you will see the channel number for each note written into the note head of
the notes. This is useful when viewing an entire MIDI file that you’ve loaded onto the Melody track, and want to examine the
channel information, or for editing a guitar track that uses channels 11 to 16.
Notation Fonts: You can use the PG Music fonts or jazz fonts for your chords and notation. Or you can choose Arial or any
other font on your system for chords, lyrics, text, and titles. The jazz fonts have the “handwritten manuscript” look. It’s a great
alternative to music fonts that look too “computerized.”
To select just the jazz music font, enable the Use Jazz Music Font option, then choose
your Chord, Lyrics, Text, and Title fonts.
Click [Regular Fonts] for a quick overall change to regular fonts in the Notation
window.
The [Jazz Fonts] button installs a pre-selected group of jazz fonts.
The [Arial] button installs the regular notation font and Arial for everything else.
Check Use Jazz Music Font to use the jazz font, and check “Jazz Symbols Font” to
use shorthand jazz chord symbols in the notation.
BeStPlain Chord Font is a very clear and readable font. The [+] button beside this
checkbox will open the dialog with options to use triangle for major, minus sign for
minor, and half or full circle for half or full diminished chords.
Note: The Jazz Chord Symbol Graphics can be displayed independently on the Chord Sheet and the Notation window. For the Chord Sheet,
open the Display Options dialog (Options | Preferences | [Display]) and select “Jazz Chord Symbols” or “BeStPlain Chord Symbols” for the
“Chord Sheet Font” option.
The Lyrics and Text fonts appear in the Notation window, the Lead Sheet, and the printout.

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The Title Font is used for the Titles, Composer, and Styles names that appear on the Lead Sheet window and printout.
The Slash Font is used for slashes / / / /, which appear in the empty bars.
The Bar # Font is used for bar numbers.
The Bar Lyrics Font is used for bar-based lyrics.
Note: Using the PG Music notation and text fonts requires that they be installed in your Windows | System directory. The fonts are installed
automatically with the program.
Bars/Screen: This option lets you to choose the number of bars per line for both the on-screen notation display and printing.
Guitar Chord Diagrams: These are available on the Notation, Lead Sheet, or printout for Folk, Pop, and Jazz voicings. There
is an option to show the fret numbers on the diagrams.
Tab: When this is enabled, the Guitar and Bass tracks show tablature notation.
Show fret #s on chord diagrams: This will display the fret numbers for each string on the guitar chord diagrams.
Load notation layout w/songs: When this box is checked, your Notation Option settings will be saved with the song and
restored the next time you load the song.
Show Key Signature: If this is turned off, you won’t have the key signature displayed on the Notation window. This will save
some space on the screen.
Transpose Options: These preset transpose settings for non-concert instruments like brass and woodwinds will auto-select the
correct transpose settings and clef split points for the instrument. For example, Trumpet +2 will write the music up 2 semitones,
and the split point will be adjusted to display the music in treble clef. If the Chord Sheet or Notation window transpose setting is
in effect, a yellow hint message opens on boot up as a reminder.
Transpose: The Transpose setting lets you manually adjust the Notation window to display notes either higher or lower than
their actual pitches.
Clefs split at: This setting determines the split point for placing notes on the Bass or Treble clef. The default setting is C5,
displayed as C5* to indicate it is middle C. Use a higher split point, such as C6, if you want notes up to a B above middle C
written on the bass clef with ledger lines.
Max Ledger Lines: You can specify an upper limit of a note range so that high notes won’t result in an excessive number of
ledger lines. The default is 6, which would show a maximum of 6 ledger lines above the treble clef staff.
Show Velocity Lines: This is a Staff Roll mode setting to show or hide the vertical Velocity lines. Line color is determined by
the Duration Line Color setting.
Use chord scale for enharmonics: The sharps and flats in Band-in-a-Box notation are context sensitive to the chord names. For
example, if you are in the key of Eb, and the chord is E7, a G# note will show up as G#, and not Ab. This means that the
notation accidentals will automatically show up correctly.

Enharmonics for chord tones are automatically based on the chord. Enharmonics for passing tones are based on chords if “Use Chord Scale Enharmonics” is
set to true.
For example, on an F#7 chord in the key of Eb, the Ab note is part of the F#7 scale (as a G#, the 2nd of the scale), but is also
part of the Eb key of the song. If you want to display based on the chord scale, setting “Use chord scale enharmonics” will
display the note as a G# instead of an Ab.
Enharmonics on slash chords: A chord like Gm7b5/Db will display correctly using a Db instead of a Gm7b5/C#, since Band-
in-a-Box bases it on a Gm scale.
Engraver Spacing: This is another one of the intelligent features which spaces the notation appropriately to avoid overlapping
notation while accounting for space required by accidentals, rests, etc. This feature is visible only in Standard Notation mode.
Tick Offset: The Tick Offset is one of the keys to great looking notation. It accounts for playing that is before or behind the
beat. The track is automatically scanned to determine the best tick offset so that you don’t have to set this yourself. This results
in better looking notation. You can change/override this setting, but normally the best tick offset is set automatically.
For example, to properly notate jazz performances, it is sometimes necessary to set the tick offset to approximately -15. This
effectively adjusts for a performance that has been played slightly “behind” the beat or, in jazz terms, “very laid back.”
In Editable Notation mode, notes entered with the mouse take the notation offset into account. So, if a note is clicked on the beat
1:1:0 will get entered at 1:1:7 if the notation offset is -7. This gives a more human feel to the arrangement.
Auto Set Tick Offset: When this is enabled, Band-in-a-Box will automatically determine the tick offset by analyzing the notes
on the track. If you want to set the tick offset manually, disable this and enter the value in the “Tick Offset” option above.
Minimize Rests: When this is enabled, Band-in-a-Box will eliminate unnecessary rests. For example, if staccato eighth notes
are displayed as sixteenth notes separated by sixteenth rests the setting will remove the rests and show the notes as eighth notes.

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Detect Fine Resolution Notation: Improved auto-transcription identifies and correctly displays up to 128th notes. If for some
reason you prefer to disable it, there is an option to do so. To set a beat to a certain specific resolution, right-click on the time
line located at the top of the Notation window. You will then see the Beat Resolution dialog where you can set the resolution
for both the Treble and Bass clefs.
New Line each: Use this setting to automatically start a new line on each chorus, on each chorus and the intro, or on each part
marker. It applies to the Lead Sheet notation screen and to printing. If you want to control how many bars per line get displayed
for a regular (non-fake sheet mode) display, use the Edit Settings for Current Bar (F5) dialog, and select “Chord Sheet and
Notation - Start a New Line” on bars that you’d like a new line of notation. That setting, in combination with the Notation
Window Options setting for “Bars/Screen,” and “New Line each” allow you to save custom settings for bars per line in non-fake
sheet mode.
R/L Cursor Edits: This is used in the Keystroke Note Editing features.
Bar Number Font and %: Select any installed font for the bar numbers and adjust its size in a percentage range from 10% to
1000%. These settings affect the notation, lead sheet, and printout.
Display Font Size %: To select the notation font size for display, enter the Display Font Size as a percentage, either more or
less than 100%. The same setting is available in the Lead Sheet window and the Print dialog.
Chord Vertical Position : This controls how high the chords will be written above the staff. If this is set to 5, the chords will be
written 5 notes above the top of the staff. If your piece contains a lot of high notes, then set the chord position to a high setting.
Lyric Position: You can adjust the height of the lyrics by setting the lyric height (smaller values like 8 are higher on the
notation).
Auto-Hand split Piano track: When this is enabled, the Piano track (not any other track) will be displayed on both clefs with
intelligent hand-splitting. You can print out the Piano track with the hands separated. You can also manually split a piano part
on the Melody or Soloist track using the intelligent hand-splitting routines. The left/right hands display in red/blue on the big
piano, and on the bass/treble clefs on the notation. For example, if you have a MIDI file that is a solo piano piece, File | Open
Special | Open MIDI file will put the music on the Melody track. Then choose Melody | Edit Melody Track | Piano Hand Split.
Make sure that Melody | Track Type is set to “Piano.” You will then see the piano part split into 2 hands intelligently.
Display Patch Names on Notation: When this is enabled, the patch name for the track is displayed on the notation, lead sheet,
and printout.
Show Slashes (/) for blank bars: If this is enabled, then slash marks / / / / will show for empty bars.
Restate Chords: If this is set to “Don’t Restate,” then the program works as in previous versions, and if the chord stays the
same, it will never be stated again in the arrangement until it does change. If set to “Every Bar,” “Every Line” or “Every Page,”
then the Notation, Lead Sheet and Printout will restate the chord every bar, line or page. The setting of “Every Page” is the
default, which means that the first bar of the Lead Sheet window will always have a chord as will the top of each Notation
window.
The [More] button opens the Other Notation Options dialog.
Inserted Note Defaults: These settings determine the default values for
notes that you enter manually.
Duration %: Notes are not always played for their full duration. If a whole
note is inserted with a duration of 80%, the note would play for 80% of 4
beats = 3.2 beats.
Velocity: The loudest possible note has a velocity of 127; a velocity of 0 is
silent.
Channel: Assign the MIDI channel of the inserted notes.
Play Inserted Notes: When checked, notes that you insert will sound
briefly as they are inserted. This lets you hear that the note you inserted
sounds correct.
Confirmation Required to enter a note over X Ledger Lines: To prevent
accidental entry of very high/low notes, this means that a confirmation
dialog would be needed to enter notes with more than X ledger lines.
Advanced Notation Settings: These advanced settings give you control
over the clean notation feature.
Chord Note Separation in MS and Chord Total Separation in MS: This
lets you set the width of chords. Band-in-a-Box will display a new group of
notes on the notation for every chord. If you know that a track is single
notes and therefore couldn’t have any chords, set the chord note separation
to a small value like 10ms and then every note will be displayed on a new
note stem. The chord width parameter is also used for the “chord step
advance” feature.

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Glitch Duration in MS and Glitch Velocity: When set properly, “Glitches” will not be shown on the notation. Any note less
than a certain length of time or less than a certain velocity can be filtered out.
Line Thickness Settings: These settings allow you to control the thickness of various line elements of the notation. For example,
if you set the Bar Line width to 200%, the bar lines will be twice as wide, and easier to see. This affects display and printout.
Options for BeStPlain Chord Symbol Font: With these options, you can see a triangle for major, a minus sign for minor, and
a half or full circle for half or full diminished chords when you use the BeStPlain chord font.
Show Popup Hint for Note Properties: If this is checked, the note properties pop-up will open if you hover the mouse cursor
over a note in the Editable Notation window.

Lead Sheet Window

The Lead Sheet window displays a full screen of notation with one or more parts. Other options include a selectable number of
staffs per page, clefs to show, font size, margin, scroll-ahead notation, guitar chord diagrams, and lyrics. If you like to sight-read
along with Band-in-a-Box, this is the window for you.
The Lead Sheet window can be resized. As you resize the window, all of its elements resize in proportion.
Launch the Lead Sheet window from the main screen by pressing the [Lead Sheet] button (or Alt+W keys), or with
the Window | Lead Sheet Window menu option. This button is also available from the Standard Notation window.

You can easily change the bars per line by pressing this button. (Note: This feature works in the Fake Sheet mode.)
This button will display notation with larger font size and note names within note heads. Press the button again to return to
the normal size.
As the notation scrolls ahead, you can read ahead without waiting for a page turn. During playback, red rectangles highlight the
current bar. If the bar is empty (or in Fake Sheet mode), the Lead Sheet will draw the staff lines and bar lines in red.

The Lead Sheet is also useful as a kind of “Print Preview” feature, as it offers you the ability to correlate the on-screen notation
to a printout.
You can move around the Lead Sheet window in various ways. Cursor keys and mouse clicks will move a small blue rectangle
around the screen, which lets you type in chords at that location. Double-clicking at any bar will start playback from that
position.
Selecting Tracks in the Lead Sheet
Click on the track selector button and select a track from the menu to view notation of that track.
To view multiple tracks, first select the track that you want to show at the top, and then click on the
[+] button and select the tracks in the order that they should appear from top to bottom. To remove an extra track from the
display, click on that track name and select remove from the menu. To remove all extra tracks, click on the [+] button and select
remove extras from the menu.

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The Show chords above each track option in the Lead Sheet Options dialog allows you to display the chords above each
track, or just the top track of the notation. If you press [Print] from the Lead Sheet window you will be able to print out the
multiple tracks of notation.
Fake Sheet Mode
The Lead Sheet window has its own Fake Sheet Mode checkbox. When it is NOT selected, the Lead Sheet will work as it
always has (in linear mode).
When Fake Sheet Mode is selected, the form will show like a lead sheet, with only one chorus showing, and
1st/2nd endings and repeats displayed.
The Fake Sheet can show multiple lines of lyrics for 1st and 2nd endings or several verses stacked in multiple lines.

Multiple lines of Lyrics on Fake Sheet

If your song has 1st and 2nd endings or multiple verses of lyrics, multi-line lyrics can be displayed, so you will see all verses on
the same fake sheet.
Load in the song C:\bb\Documentation\Tutorials\Tutorial - BB2005\Listen Multi-line lyrics Demo.MGU.

Open the Lead Sheet and select “Fake Sheet Mode.”

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This song has a 1st/2nd ending entered, with separate lyrics for each ending. Multiple lines of lyrics will also appear if there are
lyrics in multiple verses (choruses).
Tip: In the Notation Window Options, “Lyric Position” allows you to vertically position the height of the lyrics.

Harmony Notation Display

Harmonies can be displayed on the Lead Sheet window (or printed) with separate notation tracks for each harmony voice.
View each harmony on a separate track, or view/print a single harmony voice. To examine the harmony display features, load in
the song “Night_T.MGU.” The melody of this song was previously converted to a harmony using the Melody | Edit | Convert
Melody to Harmony option, so this song contains a harmony on the Melody track.
Open the Notation window (Ctrl+W) and you will see all four voices of the harmony on the same treble clef.

Now open the Lead Sheet window (Alt+W). Band-in-a-Box now recognizes that this is a harmony (generated by Band-
in-a-Box) and displays each voice on a separate track.

Press the [Print] button to print out “Voice 2.” If needed, press the notation “Transpose Options” to first visually
transpose the instrument to Eb for an “Alto Sax” chart.
Multi-Channel Notation (Sequencer Mode)
Normally, you would want a single part on the Melody or Soloist track, but since MIDI information can have separate channels,
it is possible to store 16 separate parts on each of the tracks. For the following discussion, we will assume that you’re using the
Melody track, but the same functions are available for the Soloist. When the Melody track has been set to “Multi(16)-Channel”
we refer to this as “Sequencer Mode.”
Now, when you are in this multi-channel mode, output from the Melody/Soloist track will be on whatever MIDI channel the
information is stored on and will not be using the Melody/Soloist MIDI channel.
If you open the Lead Sheet window, you will see the entire MIDI file displayed on separate tracks of notation. This is
likely “too much information” to read, unless you are a symphony conductor.

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 To customize the notation display for sequencer mode, press the [Opt.] button on the Lead Sheet window toolbar and see
the settings for Multi-Channel Track display.
Note: These settings are only visible when the track type for the Melody or Soloist is set
to Multi (16) – Channel.

Select “CUSTOM channels play/display” and press the [Set] button to launch the Sequencer Window (Multi-channel track
on Melody/Soloist) dialog. Then you can customize which channels will play and display.
This dialog can also be opened by clicking on the [SEQ] toolbar button on the main screen.

In the example picture, we have set Channel 2 (Bass) and Channel 4 (Trumpet) to show on the notation and have set all of the
channels to play (to hear them).
For a specific channel, (e.g., channel 3: piano), we see the following information.
Channel 3: Acoustic Piano (this is the patch name found on the track).
842: There are 842 events in the track; usually every note is an event.
We have customized the piano track so that it can be heard (play=true), but not seen in notation (Show=false).
The Edit button at the right of the track line allows you to delete, rechannel or merge the channel with another channel.
You can also change the patch (instrument) for that track by using the instrument patch combo box.
Now that we’ve customized the display, we are seeing bass and trumpet on the notation, and hearing the entire track.

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Lead Sheet Options Dialog
Pressing the [Opt.] button in the Lead Sheet window or the [Leadsheet] button in the Preferences dialog launches the
Lead Sheet Options dialog.
The settings in this dialog are applicable to the Lead Sheet window only. If you want to set options that are shared by the Lead
Sheet window and the Notation window, press the [Notation Options] button. This dialog also opens with the [Lead Sheet]
button in the Preferences dialog (Ctrl+E).

Treble Clef / Bass Clef: These checkboxes choose

which clefs will display in the Lead Sheet view.
AutoSet Clefs: When set, Band-in-a-Box will
attempt to pick the clef for you automatically
displaying the bass clef when you are on the bass
track or any other track with low bass notes. It will
show both clefs when on the piano or drum track.
Clef Sign Every Line / Key Signature Every
Line: By default, the Clef and Key will be shown
at the beginning of every page, but if you want one
every line, you can check these options.
Chords / Staff Lines: Both are shown by default.
Uncheck this box if you don’t want them to
display.
Show Title: If set, the song title will be displayed along with other information like Composer Names and Style information that
is set in the Print Options dialog of the Notation window. To set these options choose File | Print from the menu.
Show Bar #s: Choose whether the bar numbers will be shown for each bar, only at part markers, or not at all.
Fakesheet bars/line: You can set a custom number of bars to display on each row of the fake sheet. For example, enter “4,6,4,”
and the program will show 4 bars for the first row, 6 for the second, and 4 for the rest.
Fake Sheet displays multiple lines of lyrics shows lyrics for 1st and 2nd endings or multiple choruses stacked as multiple lines
on the fake sheet.
Fakesheet include ending bars: Fakesheets can optionally include the 2-bar song ending.
Highlight played notes: When you check this option, played notes will be highlighted in red.
Notation Options: To set options that are shared by the Lead Sheet window and the Notation window, press the [Notation
Options…] button.
Margins: Set margins for the Lead Sheet window just like the margins in a word processor. For example, if you want the lead
sheet window to only take up the top part of the screen, set a bottom margin (of, say, 2 inches) and then make the lead sheet
window smaller by pulling the bottom up. This feature has no effect on printout; the Print dialog has its own margin settings.
Show Chords above each track: When using multiple tracks of Notation, this determines whether each track will show the
chord names or not.
Show track names for multi-track notation: If checked, the Band-in-a-Box track names will be inserted at the start of each
track in the multitrack notation display.
Harmony display:
[Convert Harmony to track] will add a harmony to an existing Melody.
[Remove] will remove the harmony from the track.
Split Harmonies to different tracks enables the splitting of the harmonies to different tracks on the lead sheet.
Show Harmony Voice allows you to select ALL tracks, which will cause each track to display on a different track on the Lead
Sheet. Or select a specific Voice to display only that voice. For example, if you choose “Voice 2” and press OK, you will now
see just voice 2 of the harmony.
You can control the volume of the selected harmony voice relative to the other voices in the harmony. The Play Volume of
harmony voice setting can be set to:
­ Normal: Harmony plays as normal.
­ Solo: Only the selected voice will play.
­ 50% Solo: Selected voice is much louder than other voices.
­ Quiet: Selected Voice is much quieter than other voices.
­ Muted: Selected Voice is muted.
These settings are useful to sight-read along on harmonies and learn to hear inner voices of a harmony.

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Staves Per Page: The number of staves shown in the lead sheet can be set by typing in a number or using the [+] and [-]
buttons. If “Auto-Set” is selected, the number of staves will be set automatically, attempting to fit the lead sheet on a single
page.
Font Size: Choose the font size with one of the preset buttons for popular sizes, or type a number between 45% and 300%.
[Restore Defaults]: You can reset all the Lead Sheet options back to default settings by pressing this button.
Lead Sheet Memo
You can enter a memo to add to the Lead Sheet printout. Click on the [Memo] button in the Lead Sheet to open the
Lead Sheet Memo window. You can copy/paste from/to this memo.

The memo will be automatically positioned after the end of the Lead Sheet and printout. Use extra blank lines in the Lead
Sheet Memo to control where it displays on the page.
The Start Memo on a New Page option prints the Lead Sheet Memo on a new page of the printout.
Press the [Choose Font] button to select the font you would like for the memo.
A text block will be appended to the Lead Sheet window and printout. This could be song lyrics that you want appended to the
end, multiple verses of lyrics, or any other text.

Lyrics
Band-in-a-Box supports lyrics in three different ways: Note-based lyrics, Bar-based lyrics, and a Big Lyrics (Karaoke) window.
Note-based lyrics can be entered on the Notation window, and bar-based lyrics can be entered either on the Chord Sheet or on
the Notation window.
In the previous versions, there were line-based lyrics, which could be entered for each line on the Notation window. You can
longer enter this type of lyrics, but if your existing song has line-based lyrics, Band-in-a-Box can convert them to bar-based
lyrics. In the Global Song Override dialog, there is an option which allows you to choose how the conversion should occur
when the song with line-based lyrics opens.

The default is “Always (auto-split),” which will convert line-based lyrics to bar-based lyrics and
splitting them into 4 bars. If you choose “Always (don’t split),” line-based lyrics will be converted
but they won’t be split into 4 bars. You can also choose not to convert line-based lyrics
automatically. If the current song has line-based lyrics, you can press the [Convert now] button to
convert them to bar-based lyrics.

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Bar-based Lyrics
To see the bar-based lyrics that you have entered on the Chord Sheet, click on the [Chord Display] toolbar button and check
Bar Lyrics.

Note-based Lyrics
Note-based lyrics offer accurate placement of lyrics by placing a word under each note.

You can enter note-based lyrics by pressing Ctrl+L keys or pressing the [L] button on the Notation toolbar to open the Lyric
Edit window.

The [Line] button enters a forward slash “/” line break marker in the current lyric.
The [Para] button enters a backslash “\” paragraph break marker in the current lyric.
The [Enter] button enters the current lyric, equivalent to hitting Enter key or Tab key.
The [Close] button closes the Lyrics Edit mode, equivalent to hitting the [L] button again.
The [Sec Text] button enters the text in the lyric box as section text at the current bar.
The [Edit] button opens the Edit Lyrics dialog where lyrics and section text can be edited.
As you enter the lyrics, the note is highlighted. Pressing the Tab or Enter key moves to the next note. You can “undo” lyrics
with the Edit | Undo command.
When you are finished a line of lyrics, hit the [Line] button. This enters a backslash “\” line break marker in the current lyric.
Note-based lyrics are saved with the MIDI file, so you can use them in your other MIDI programs.
Vertical placement is set with the Lyric Position option in the Notation Options dialog. A setting of -10 puts the lyrics directly
under the treble clef, higher values put them lower.
Lyrics Event List
You can edit the lyrics using an event list as well. This allows you to enter lyrics at any point, not just tied to a note.
Press the [#] button on the Notation window toolbar. Then, press the [Edit Lyrics] button. You can then see the Edit Lyrics
dialog.

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From here, you can edit lyrics, insert new lyrics, append lyrics to the end of the track, or delete lyrics. A single lyric event can
be 128 characters.
The Lyrics Menu
The complete list of Lyrics functions is found in the Edit | Lyrics submenu.
Enter Note-Based Lyrics at Current Bar opens the Lyric entry box at
the current location of the time line or highlight cell.
Big Lyrics Window opens the Big Lyrics window for viewing lyrics
and, optionally, chord symbols.
Lyric Document Window displays a full screen of formatted lyrics.
Easily copy and paste lyrics to and from your favorite word
processor.
Copy Lyrics to Clipboard allows you to copy a song’s lyrics (and/or
the chords) to the Standard Windows® clipboard. By pasting this data
into a word processor, you can print out the lyrics in the font of your
choice. The dialog has options to allow copying of note-based and/or
line-based lyrics. With either option you can choose to include the
chord symbols, have double or single line spacing, and make margin
settings.
Copy Note-Based Lyrics in 1st Chorus to Whole Song copies the
note-based lyrics for the first chorus to the rest of the song.
Convert Note-Based Lyrics to Bar-Based Lyrics allows you to convert note-based-lyrics to bar-based lyrics.
Erase Bar-Based Lyrics erases the bar-based lyrics from the song.
Erase Note-Based Lyrics erases the note-based lyrics from the song.
Erase Note-Based from Choruses: Select to erase lyrics in the First Chorus, Middle Choruses, or Last Chorus from a list box.
Move Bar-Based Lyrics Ahead to Timeline / Move Bar-Lyrics Back to Timelin: If you have a note-based lyric that you want to
time shift ahead or back, you can click on the time line at the destination that you want, and then choose this item. You can also
shift lyric times using the Lyric Event list.
Timeshift Bar-Based Lyrics (ticks) / Insert Beat(s) in Bar-Based Lyrics / Delete Beat(s) from Bar-Based Lyrics: These are
functions that apply to the entire lyric track. They are useful when you’re inserting bars or beats into the song and need to move
the lyrics around to keep them in sync.
Edit Bar-Based Lyrics as Event List opens the Edit Lyrics dialog with Edit, Insert, Append, and Delete functions.
Vocal Synth - Auto Mode / Manual Mode: This will generate a vocal track using an online third-party vocal synthesizer called
Sinsy for a MIDI melody track with lyrics.
Tip: Lyrics are printable above or below the chord line or printed separately after song end. Lyrics will also support international characters
such as è, š, and ó.

Lyric Document Window

The Lyric Document window displays a full screen of fully formatted lyrics so you can easily copy and paste lyrics to and from
your favorite word processor. If you have the lyrics available, you can quickly paste them into Band-in-a-Box.
You may already have the lyrics to your song typed into a word processor, nicely formatted with font/color/bold choices etc.
Previously, you would need to retype them into Band-in-a-Box and would lose your formatting. Now you can simply
Copy/Paste them to/from your word processor. This allows you to quickly add lyrics to any Band-in-a-Box song.
You can open this window by choosing Window | Lyric Document Window, or pressing Ctrl+Alt+Shift+L. In addition, if
“Auto-open lyrics window for songs with lyrics” is set to true in the Lyric Window Options dialog (Options | Preferences [Big
Lyrics]), the Lyric Document Window will open automatically when the song is loaded, and close when the next song is
loaded.
To use the window, type or paste in text from a word processor. You can select fonts and colors as you would in a word
processor. Since the data is stored in RTF format, it should look very similar to the appearance it would have in WordPad.

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 You can transfer “line based” or “note based” lyrics from the Notation Screen of Band-in-a-Box to the Lyric Document
window. Press the Copy Lyrics button to do this. This launches the Options for Copy Lyrics to Clipboard dialog allowing you
to select which elements to copy (line lyrics/ note-based lyrics/ chords) and formatting options. Then click on [OK Copy to
Text Clipboard]. A message will tell you that the lyrics have been copied to the clipboard. Click on [OK] to paste the lyrics
into the Lyrics Document Window.
You can also print directly from this window and copy to/from the Song Memo (using copy/paste).
Big Lyrics Window
The Big Lyrics Window is great for sing along or Karaoke. It opens from the Edit | Lyrics or Windows| Lyrics submenu, with
the keystrokes Ctrl+Shift+L, or with the [L] toolbar button.

Each word is highlighted as it plays, and the window can be customized by clicking on the [Options] button. Click on any word
in the Big Lyrics Window to start the song playing from that point.
The [Print] button opens the Options for Copy Lyrics to Clipboard dialog. This function allows you to copy a song’s lyrics
(and/or the chords) to the standard Windows® clipboard.
The [Vocal Synth] button offers Auto and Manual modes for sending the Melody track and lyrics to the 3rd party Sinsy vocal
synthesizer. A synthesized vocal track will be generated and imported into the Band-in-a-Box Audio track.
Lyric Window Options
Add chord symbols, customize your color scheme, choose a favorite font, and select a size in the Lyric Window Options
dialog.

Individual color elements can be picked or you can choose one of the presets.
Display Chord Symbols will interleave the chord symbols with the lyrics.
Show chord symbols above the lyrics will show the chords on a separate line.

With the Scroll lyrics a page at a time option selected the Big Lyrics scroll a
page at a time. When the lyric cursor reaches the next-to-last line of the lyrics it
will scroll to the top of the page, allowing uninterrupted reading of lyrics.
Auto-open lyrics window for songs with lyrics automatically opens the Big
Lyrics window when a song with lyrics is opened in Band-in-a-Box.
The popular Karaoke file format (.KAR) can be opened directly into Band-in-a-Box just like MIDI files. Chord symbols are
displayed (Band-in-a-Box intelligently analyzes the chords of the song), as well as the lyrics from the Karaoke files.
Karaoke MP3/CDG Files
Audio Karaoke files are popular using several formats. The most common is CDG format, which includes the lyrics in graphic
format on audio CDs. Since the computer user doesn’t always use audio CDs, there is a format that combines MP3 (containing
the music) and CDG (the graphical lyrics). You can open MP3/CDG files inside Band-in-a-Box and see the scrolling lyrics from
your Karaoke files. If you want to play along on your own instrument, you can use the Audio Chord Wizard to figure out the
chords and display them in its Chord window.
To open a Karaoke File, use File | Open, and find a WAV, MP3, or WMA file that has a same named CDG file in the same
folder. Then the Karaoke window will open and display the lyrics.
The Big Lyrics Window has some options for the Karaoke window.

220 Chapter 8: Notation and Printing

 You can choose to have a background to the window, either a moving one or fixed
picture. These pictures are in the C:\bb\Data\KaraokeBMP folder, and you can add
your own BMP or JPG image to that folder.

Options for Copy Lyrics to Clipboard

The [Print] button at the top of the Big Lyrics window opens the Options for Copy Lyrics to Clipboard dialog. This function
allows you to copy a song’s lyrics (and/or the chords) to the standard Windows® clipboard. You can also go to menu Edit |
Lyrics | Copy Lyrics to Clipboard to open this dialog.
By pasting this data into a word processor, you can print out
the lyrics in the font of your choice.
The dialog has options to allow note-based and/or bar-based
lyrics to be copied to the clipboard.
With either option, you can choose to include the chord
symbols, have double or single line spacing, and make margin
settings.

Printing
Band-in-a-Box prints Lead Sheet style notation with chords, melodies, lyrics, and text notes. It will also print instrument parts
from your Band-in-a-Box arrangements, either individual instruments or multiple parts. Most songs will fit on one page, so your
printout will look similar to a standard fake book.

You can easily make and print out a custom fake book of all of your tunes. Instantly transpose and print parts for brass or reed
instruments. Print options include title, bar numbers, composer, style, and copyright information.
Print Options
Pressing the [Print] button launches the Print Options dialog. Print options include title, bar numbers, composer, style,
and copyright.
This dialog also opens by clicking on the [Print] button in the Notation, Lead Sheet, or Preview window.

Chapter 8: Notation and Printing 221

 Chords: If selected, this will include the chords of
the song on the lead sheet. Remember that you can
set the height that the chords will appear in a
different dialog (Notation Window Options
dialog).
Notes: If you want only a chord lead sheet with no
Notes, then turn this off. Otherwise, it should be
ON.
Staff Lines: Set to off (uncheck) to print a “chords
only” fake sheet with chord symbols and bar lines
but no staff lines or notation.
Tab: This enables tablature display and printout
for guitar and bass tracks.
Regular chord pos when no staff lines: When
staff lines are not included in printout, this option
allows you to see chords above instead of inside
each bar.
AutoSet Clefs: With this setting, the program will print only the clefs that are necessary. For example, a Melody would
probably print with just the treble clef, while a bass track would use only the bass clef, and a piano track would use both clefs.
Treble Clef: Normally, you will want to include the treble clef unless you’re printing a bass track or left-hand piano part alone
and want to save space.
Bass Clef: For melodies or solos, you probably won’t want the bass clef printed. For other parts (piano, bass, drums, etc.) you
should set this option to YES.
Clef split at: This determines where the notation will split the treble and bass clefs. Middle C is normally considered to be C5,
and C4 is one octave below. For the Melody or Soloist track, you will probably want the entire track to be printed on the treble
clef, so you could choose to split the clefs at C4.
Show Bar #s: There are options to include the bar # on the printout (e.g., every bar, every part marker, every row, every page).
Bar #s Below By: This sets the vertical position of the bar numbers in the printout between 1 and 7. 1 is closest to the staff and
7 is farthest from the staff (lowest).
Clef Sign Every Line: Leave this unchecked if it’s not needed and you want an uncluttered look.
Key Signature Every Line: Most modern fake books don’t include the key signature every line. If you want to see a key
signature at every line, set this to “Yes.”
Print Note-based Lyrics: Set to “Yes” to print the Melody part with Lyrics, or turn off to print just the music for the melody
line.
Bar-based lyrics: Bar lyrics can be printed above the chords, below the staff, separately at the end (on a separate page), or not
printed at all. Normally, lyrics are printed below the staff.
Bar-based lyrics position: This allows you to adjust the vertical position of the bar lyrics.
Template: There are print templates in the print dialog to achieve various printout styles - Normal/Lyrics Only/Chords and
Lyrics/Chords Only/Blank Paper. In the Print dialog, select the desired print template. To return to default settings choose the
“Normal” template.
Print Range (First Chorus/Last Chorus/Whole Song): You can print the First chorus, the Last chorus, or the whole song.
When you change this setting, Band-in-a-Box will reset the number of staves per page setting in order to auto-fit the printout to
one page, if possible.
Tip: You’ll want to print the last chorus in a song that has a tag ending, or if you want to see a 2-bar ending printed.
[Custom]: A specific range of bars can be printed, by
either highlighting a region or entering a range of bars.
To print out, for example, bars 11 to 16 of a song, press
this button, and enter the range bar 11 for 5 bars. The
song will then print only that range of 5 bars.

Allow ending w/ fake sheet: If this is enabled, an ending will be included when printing the fake sheet as a whole song.
Include Lead-In: If your song has a lead-in (pickup) to bar 1 then make sure you’ve checked the Lead-In. Actually, Band-in-a-
Box sets this for you by looking for notes in the lead-in measure. You can override this automatic setting, if necessary.
Font Size: This is the font size for the printed music. Changes will be seen in the Print Preview.
Staves per page: Band-in-a-Box will automatically auto-fit on 1 page, use this to override the auto setting. Remember that the
title takes up 1 stave. The “Auto-Set” option will set the number automatically and will try to fit the lead sheet on a single page.

222 Chapter 8: Notation and Printing

Bar Line %: This allows you to set the bar line thickness.
[More]: Press this button to open the Margins & Misc. Settings dialog.
You can also select the “Always fill tempo” option, which automatically writes
the current tempo on the song sheet.
On print out, if “Include “a” / “b” part markers” is set bar numbers will include
“a” or “b” after them (the name of the substyle).
Use “Offset Bar Numbers by” to offset the display of bar numbers on the
printout or lead sheet. For example, if you want bar 1 to display as bar 17, enter
an offset of 16.
Title/Style/Tempo/Composer/Copyright: Enter this information in the fields provided. If the title is long the font size will be
reduced, and the title won’t be underlined. Titles are limited to 60 characters.
- Press the [A] button to print the title in upper case.
- The [T] button automatically inserts the current tempo setting for the song.
- The [©] button will insert the copyright symbol into the copyright field.
- The [S] button will enter the full style name into the Style field.
[Setup Printer]: This launches the setup dialog for your printer. You can then set paper size, resolution, page orientation and
other settings controlled by the printer driver.
Tip: In the Notation Window Options dialog you can specify an upper limit of a note range with the “Max Ledger Lines” setting high so notes
won’t have an excessive number of ledger lines.
[OK - Print Chords Only]: This button lets you quickly print a “chords only” fake sheet.
[Print to PDF]: You can save your printouts directly as a PDF file. From the Print dialog, press [Print to PDF]. This opens a
Save As dialog for the Pdf995 printer driver. Choose a location for your file and assign a name to the PDF, then press [Save] to
create a fully portable file that you can view, print, post, or upload.
Print Preview
The [OK – Preview/Graphics] button allows you to preview what the printed pages will look like by displaying them on-
screen.

Use the [Prior], [Next], [First], and [Last] buttons to navigate additional pages.
Press the [Opt] button to open the Preview Options dialog.
In the Preview Options dialog, you can set the exact number of pixels to display
for the print preview. The same settings are also used if you choose to save the
pages to a graphics file in the popular .JPG, .TIF, or .BMP file types.
Printing your song to a graphics file allows you to embed your notation in a
document, or in an HTML file for use on your web site.
This feature is only limited by available memory. This allows high resolution BMPs
like 2400 x 3000. A BMP of 2400x3000 is 300 dpi for an 8”x10” image.
When saving to a JPG file there are additional quality settings.
When you have selected your file options, press the [OK] button.

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You will then see a high-resolution graphic on screen, and you can save that
to a BMP using the [Save…] button.
To save a JPG file, press the [Save…] button and then select “Save to File
Type:” JPG.
You can then see the estimated size of the file and can change settings by
pressing the Low/Medium/High resolution buttons.

Use the [Screen Width] button to display the notation across the full width of the screen.
The [Full Page] button will shrink the notation to display a full page at a time.
The [Save…] button saves the current page as a Graphics file.
The [Save + +] button saves all of the pages to graphics files named songnamexxx.bmp, where xxx is the page number.
With the [Clipbd] button, you can quickly copy a bitmap to paste into other applications.
Press the [PrintPage] button to enter a page number and print only that page, not the complete song or a full chorus.
Printing Multiple Tracks
To print more than one track of notation:

- Open the Lead Sheet window.

- Select the track that you want to show at the top.
- Click on the [+] button and select the tracks in the order that they should appear from top to
bottom. To remove an extra track from the display, click on that track name and select remove from the menu. To remove all
extra tracks, click on the [+] button and select remove extras from the menu.
You will then see a group of tracks, displayed in the order you selected them.
Note: When you are viewing multiple tracks of notation, the clefs will be auto-set for you, ignoring the clef settings in the Lead Sheet Options
dialog. For example, the bass would always be on bass clef, you won’t be able to see it on bass and treble clef.
Press [Print] from the Lead Sheet window to print the multipart Band-in-a-Box notation.

Print Preview of Band-in-a-Box multipart notation including guitar chord diagrams.

224 Chapter 8: Notation and Printing

Printing Multiple Songs
To print out a single song you use the [Print] button in the Notation window. If you want to print out several songs, use the
Print Multiple Songs feature to print them all out at once.
This allows you to print all of the songs in a subdirectory with one command. This feature is accessed from the File | Print
Multiple Songs menu item.

You can set options to refine which songs will get printed. For example, you might want to only print songs in a certain style
(e.g., Bossa Nova), or only songs beginning with letters R to Z, or only songs with melodies.
Before you print out a whole bunch of songs, it is important to set the options that you like, as the program will use the same
options for each song. Use the Print Options dialog. Perhaps you want to print out only the first chorus of each song, for
example. The program will automatically set each song to print out on 1 page if possible.
First, make sure that you are in the correct directory that you want to print. This is displayed in the [Change Directory] button.
For example, if the box under the [Change Directory] button says C:\bb, then the songs in C:\bb will be printed. If you want to
print songs in a different subdirectory, then press the [Change Directory] button.
If you want to print all songs in a subdirectory, then press the [All Songs] button. Pressing this button sets the Start and Finish
ranges to start at “0” (blank) and finish at “ZZ.” Since song files with names like 8dayweek.mgu will appear before the letter A
when sorted alphabetically, the blank string “0” is used instead of the letter A to ensure the inclusion of all songs.
Normally, you would want the Range of Songs to Print set to “All Songs,” but if you’ve already printed out songs from A to
M, and want to resume printing starting at N, you can specify this range N to Z so that you don’t have to print out everything
again.
If Only print songs with melodies is set, then only files that have a melody in them (i.e., song files ending in mg?) will print.
Only print songs with style extension of _ is useful if you want to only print out certain styles. For example, if you only want
to printout jazz swing songs, then you can set this to style 1, which is Jazz Swing. Style 4 is Bossa Nova.
The 24 built-in styles each have a number associated with them. All user styles have a style character of U.
Here are the style numbers for the built-in styles.
Jazz Swing 1 Pop Ballad 9 Jazz Waltz 3/4 H
Country 12/8 2 Shuffle Rock A Rhumba I
Country 3 Light Rock B Cha Cha J
Bossa 4 Medium Rock C Bouncy 12/8 K
Ethnic 5 Heavy Rock D Irish L
Blues Shuffle 6 Miami Sound E Pop Ballad 12/8 M
Blues Even 7 Milly Pop F Country old 12/8 N
Waltz (Old) 3/4 8 Funk G Reggae O
If your printer requires loading each sheet, you might want the program to beep after each printed song. The Beep after each
printed song setting is useful to monitor the printout if you aren’t near your printer, because if it stops beeping, then printout
has stopped, and you may be out of paper.
When completed, beep x times will notify you that the job is finished by beeping a specified number of times.
The [PRINT MULTIPLE] and [STOP] buttons start and stop printing the multiple songs.
Band-in-a-Box monitors the Print Manager to avoid overloading it with songs to print. So, if the Print Manager has more than 2
songs waiting to print, Band-in-a-Box will pause before printing a new song. If your printer runs out of paper, the Windows®
Print Manager and Band-in-a-Box will wait for you to put more paper in before automatically resuming printout. The status of
the Printout is displayed at the top of the dialog.

Chapter 8: Notation and Printing 225

 Chapter 9: Automatic Music Features
Automatic Medleys - “The Medley Maker”
Would you like to make a medley of various Band-in-a-Box songs (MGU) using Band-in-a-Box? This is easily done with the
Medley Maker. Inside the Medley Maker, simply select the songs that you want, and Band-in-a-Box will make the medley for
you. A medley is not simply joining songs together. A good medley uses a transition between songs to introduce the new style,
key, and tempo. The Medley Maker automatically creates a nice transition area for you, writing in chords that would smoothly
modulate to the next song, style, key, and tempo!
To open the Medley Maker, click on the [Song Form] button in the Tools toolbar and choose Medley Maker from the
menu. You can also go to menu File | Import | Medley Maker to open this dialog.

To make a medley,
- Add songs by pressing the [Append] or [Insert] button.
- Remove songs using [Delete].
- Change the order of the songs using [Move Up] or [Move Down].
- For any song, customize using the Settings for this song group box, including changing the style, tempo, key, start bar, # of
bars, and # of transition bars. Press [Update] to see your changes in the medley list.
- Choose the type of information to include with your medley (styles, key signature changes, lyrics, etc.) in the Include with
Songs group box.
- Choose a number of transition bars (the default is 4). Transition bars are automatic bars of chords inserted by Band-in-a-Box
to transition from one song to the other, generating an “outro” and an “intro” between songs.
The current size and time of your medley is displayed in the Length label. The maximum size of the medley is 255 bars (about
7 minutes).
Press the [Make Medley NOW] button to generate a medley.
Tip: Your medley will use RealDrums if you have RealDrums enabled. If so, you should keep the various tempos of the songs within a close
range. Because the quality of the RealDrums stretching would go down if a song in the medley had a much lower tempo than the previous
one, it is tempos that slow down to avoid.

Automatic Songs - “The Melodist”

Feel like composing a brand-new song? Using the “Melodist” feature, you can compose a new song in the style of your
choice, complete with intro, chords, melody, arrangement, etc. All you have to do is choose from one of the many “Melodists”
available and press [OK] button. The program then creates the intro, chords, melody, and arrangement in any given style. The
Melodist will also generate a melody over an existing chord progression.
Once the song is generated, the chords and melody are part of the regular Band-in-Box tracks, and as such can be edited,
printed, saved as MIDI file, etc. You can also regenerate any part of a song to further refine your Band-in-a-Box compositions.

226 Chapter 9: Automatic Music Features

A Melodist “Jukebox” mode creates and performs new compositions in succession. Besides the compositional advantages of the
Melodist, utilizing this feature can also be a powerful practicing aid for improving your sight reading by reading the melodies
generated in various keys using the Lead Sheet window, and improving your ear by playing along with the chord progressions in
the generated songs using the ear training window.
This feature can be a powerful practicing aid for sight reading and improving your ear.
Press the [Melodist] toolbar button to launch the Generate Chords and/or Melody dialog.

The left side of the dialog displays the list of the Melodists available, including Pop, Swing, Bossa, Waltz, Rock, Bebop, and
Jazz Ballad. Scroll down the list and pick the Melodist that you’d like to use.
Selecting the All checkbox displays all available Melodists, or they can be filtered by genre (e.g., Dixieland) to show only
Melodists in that genre. To filter the Melodists, de-select the All checkbox and then check on the genre that you are interested
in. With the Show if N/A option, you can also filter to show/not show Melodists from Melodist sets that you don’t have.
[Fav]: The Favorites button allows you to pick a Melodist that you’ve used recently. The Favorite Melodists dialog keeps track
of the last 50 melodists that you’ve used, so you can easily recall them. Highlight the melodist you want to use and press the
[OK] button or double-click on the selection you want to make.
[Search] / [Go To #]: Press the [Search] button and type in part of a Melodist name, memo, style name, or other text associated
with a Melodist. This will cause the Melodist selection to change to the next item containing the text. Similarly, you can type in
a # of a Melodist and press the [Go To #] button.
Memo / Database: The Memo area displays a memo for the current Melodist, as well as the name of the database (e.g.,
MELPOP1.ST2) used for that Melodist.
Instrument / Harmony / Style / Change Instruments: Melodists can store patch and harmony settings, and these are displayed
in the Instrument area of the Melodist selection screen. By default, Melodists use RealStyles instead of MIDI styles, but if you
prefer the MIDI styles, disable the “Use RealStyles” checkbox. You can also set the instrument to change each chorus. You can
override the settings of the current Melodist and choose your own patch, harmony and change instrument settings in these
controls.
Whole Song / Part of Song: Select whether you want to generate the whole song or just part of it. If you select part of the song,
you can specify which bar and chorus to start at and how many bars to generate.
Tip: If you want to generate only part of a song, an easy way to set the range of bars is to highlight/select the bars by dragging the mouse over
the chord area prior to launching the Melodist dialog. Then the generate form will be automatically set to “Part of Song” and the range of bars
will be set to the selected area.
Key: This area determines the key for the song. If set to “Any Key” the program will randomly pick a key for the song, weighed
more heavily toward the popular keys (C, F, etc.). “min. key%” determines what % of songs are generated in minor keys vs.
major keys. If set to 20, then 20% of the songs would be generated in minor keys.
Chords and/or Melody: The items that are selected in this area will be generated. The convenient preset buttons will
automatically set the appropriate settings to popular presets. The [Chords & Mel.] button will set the checkboxes to Generate
Chords & Melody (but not Solos). The [All] button will generate Chords, Melody, and Solos. The [Chords] button sets the
options to generate Chords only (no Melody). The [Melody] button will set the options to generate only a Melody (no chords)
over an existing chord progression.

Chapter 9: Automatic Music Features 227

Insert Bass Pedals: When selected, a Pedal Bass figure will be inserted during the intro and at the end of sections.
Solo in Middle Choruses: This will generate an improvisation in the middle choruses of the song. Any Soloist can be selected.
Allow Style Change: When selected, this option allows a Melodist to load in an associated style. If you don’t want Melodists to
change the current style that you have loaded, then de-select this option.
Form: This selection box allows you to choose between a song generated with a specific form (AABA 32 bars) or “free” form.
The AABA defaults to 32-bar form, which is the most popular song form. If you’d prefer for the song to have no form, you
could set the song to “no form” This wouldn’t be a very musical setting, but might be useful for practicing or ear training.
Tip: Melodists may alternatively be set to 64 bars (e.g., Melodist # 18 ColeP 64 bar form). The song form refers to the pattern that the verse
and chorus repeat. An “AABA 32” form has 4 sections of 8 bars each: the “A” section is the verse and the “B” is the chorus (or bridge) of the
song.
# Choruses: This determines how many choruses of the song form (Melodies) are to be generated. For example, if set to 5, the
Melodist will generate 5 choruses, enough for an intro chorus, ending chorus, and 3 Middle Choruses. The # choruses setting
defaults to the # choruses present in the current song.
Tempo / Auto Tempo: The Tempo setting determines the tempo of the song, and defaults to the current tempo of the previous
song. If “AutoTempo” is checked, the tempo will be set at the tempo range stored within that Melodist. For example, if a
Melodist is called “Fast Waltz,” it would have a fast tempo range stored inside the Melodist, and the song would be generated at
a fast tempo if the “AutoTempo” option is set.
A2 Transpose: In songs with an AABA form, it is common for the second “A” section to be transposed. For example, the first
“A” section might be in the key of Eb, and the second would be transposed up to the key of Gb. Melodists store these settings,
and some Melodists are set to transpose the A2 sections. If you don’t want to allow Melodists to transpose the form in this way,
set the A2 transpose to none. If set to “section plus,” it will transpose the A2 section, and might also transpose 2 bars early or 2
bars late. The song will only get transposed if the particular Melodist is set to transpose the section. This feature is discussed in
more detail in the Melody Maker section.
Replace Thru form: If you have set the Melodist to generate a part of the song, you might choose to generate only bars 5 and 6
of the song form in the “A” section of an AABA form. If the form of the song is AABA, you’d normally want the regenerated
section to be repeated throughout the form in all of the “A” sections. This option will instruct the Melodist to copy the generated
bars 5 and 6 to the other “A” sections (bars 13 and 14 and bars 29 and 30).
Write to track: Usually, the Melodist is written to the Melody track. If you prefer the Melody to be written to the Soloist track,
perhaps as a counter-melody, then change this setting to Soloist.
Melodist Juke Box: Press the [Juke Songs Now] button to launch the Melodist Jukebox. It will continuously generate new
songs and play them in Jukebox fashion. Using the “From…To” setting, you can set the range of Melodists to include in the
Jukebox or keep the Jukebox on the same Melodist by deselecting “Change Melodists.”
[Defaults]: This button sets the Melodist back to its default settings.
Melodist Maker: If you’d like to create your own Melodists or permanently change the settings of existing Melodists, press the
[Edit] button to launch the Melodist Maker.

Automatic Intro - Song Intros

With a single button, you can generate a 2, 4, or 8-bar intro for any song. The chords will be different each time, and you can
keep pressing until you get the progression that you want. The intro generated is an appropriate chord progression in the chosen
style of music (e.g., Jazz/Pop), with optional pedal bass, and leads correctly to the first chord of the song. Intros can also be
removed.
Press the [Song Form] toolbar button and select Generate Intro from the pulldown menu. You can also select menu Edit |
Song Form | Generate Chords for Intro. This will open the Generate Chords for Intro dialog.

Chord types: You can choose between Jazz and Pop styles of chords.
Intro length (bars): This sets the duration of the intro to 2, 4, or 8 bars.
Starting chord (after intro) is: This setting assures the generated intro smoothly transitions into the song.
Pedal bass: This inserts a pedal bass figure throughout the intro.
Use Maj7 instead of Maj6: Choose between using Maj7 or Maj6 chords.

228 Chapter 9: Automatic Music Features

Use Chords from Bar: This allows you to incorporate the chords in any section into the intro. For example, you can use the last
4 bars of the song as an intro.
Drum count-in (for this song only): Select the lead-in option for the current song.
Instruments: You can have the intro be played by the whole band, a specific track, or any combination of tracks.
[(Re)-Generate Intro Chords] will insert or replace an intro in the song, with the given settings.
[Remove Intro] will remove the intro.
Note: The Melodist also has settings to auto-generate intros and song titles.

Automatic Song Title Generation

The Song Title generator names every song that the Melodist writes, if the Auto-Titles checkbox is selected. This feature can be
used on its own to suggest titles for your own compositions. It will keep making titles until you get one you like.
Press the [Generate Title] button and select the menu command Auto-generate a song title, or press the Alt+Shift+T keys.

A new title will appear immediately in the title area of the screen. Select Edit | Undo Title to go back one title.

Customizing the song title generator

These word lists stored in a text file called TITL1.TXT. This file has several sections, each with two sets of words that will be
put together. You can add new sections, with an adjective section and a noun section. Please see the comments included in the
file TITL1.TXT for details on adding text to the file.

Automatic Sound Track Generator - “SoundTrack”

The SoundTrack feature allows you to generate music in the style you choose for any length of time you specify. As the
“producer,” you select the genre, length of time, instruments, and fade-in/fade-out options. The SoundTrack adjusts the tempo
and duration to match the settings, and then allows you to save the file as a WAV, WMA (Windows® Media Audio), or MP3 file
for further use in your own projects.
Generate original music (over 20 genres) or select from over 50 supplied SoundTrack types (Bluesy, Excite, Healing, Jazzy,
Tropics, etc.). For example, you can generate a 30-second audio music clip in the genre of your choice in just a few seconds!
To use the SoundTrack feature, choose the Melody | Generate Soundtrack menu item. You will then see the Generate
SoundTrack dialog.

Note: The SoundTrack feature renders to audio files

(WAV/WMA/MP3) using DXi or VSTi synths only. You
need to have at least 1 DXi/VSTi synth installed for
the feature to work. Typical Band-in-a-Box
installations include the Coyote WaveTable DXi.

First, you should load in a song. There are several types of songs that you can load in:
You can generate a brand-new-royalty free composition by pressing the [Generate Song Now] button, after choosing a Genre
and Style variation.

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With the [Load SoundTrack song] button, you can choose from over 100 premade “SoundTrack” compositions that we have
made. These are designed to be suitable for background music for various uses.
With the [Load Existing Song], [Load Song Demo] and [Load Song with RealDrums (Audio)] buttons, you can load in
existing songs, song demos that we have provided for the styles, or songs that have RealDrums, or finally there is a button to
load in any song. Please note, if using an existing song (composed by someone else), make sure that you have sufficient rights to
use the song for your project.
Once you have loaded in a song, you can now choose a portion of the song to use for your project by enabling the Desired
Duration option and setting the length with the min and sec fields. Assume that you want a 30 second clip of music. Set the
desired duration to 30 seconds. Then press the [Adjust # of bars and Tempo] button. This will give a number of bars at a
tempo that closely matches your current settings, which will last 30 seconds.
Adjust the Starts at Bar of the music. To start at the beginning, choose bar 1.
In the Tracks to Include area, you can choose which instruments to include in the arrangement.
Use the [Play] and [Stop] buttons to hear the work-in-progress. You can also loop the song playback.
Set Fade-in and Fade-Out options in seconds for the audio clip.
Now, generate your SoundTrack file by pressing the [Save SoundTrack] button and choosing a file format (WAV, WMA, MP3,
MP4 or M4A).
You can hear your finished audio clip by pressing the [Preview] button.

Automatic Solo Generation – “The Soloist”

There are two ways to select and add a solo to your song. The “Best Soloist” feature presents a pre-selected list of Soloists to
choose from. The Select Soloist dialog gives you the full list of Soloists to choose from, plus additional settings you can apply
to the solo. Clicking on the [Soloist] toolbar button shows the two choices.

Pick “Best” Soloist RealTracks

This dialog shows you the best Soloists that match the genre, tempo, and feel of your song. The list is displayed from best to
worst. For example, if you have a jazz ballad style loaded (tempo 60), the list will show jazz Soloists that will work well at a
tempo of 60 at the top of the list, and something like a fast, heavy metal guitar Soloist at the bottom of the list.
How to Use This Feature
To add a best Soloist to the Soloist track, press the [Soloist] button, and choose the menu option Add Best RealTracks Soloist to
Soloist Track. Or Shift+click on the [Soloist] button.
To add a best Soloist to any track, right-click (or double-click) on a track button and choose the Select Soloist | RealTracks
Select Best Soloist RealTracks menu command. You will then see a dialog that lists the best Soloists for the current style.

It will include “Soloists” and “Background (Melodic).” You can de-select these if you want to see only “Soloists” (and not
“Background”).

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If you want to filter the list, enter text or press the [#] button.
You can audition the RealTracks by double-clicking on the list or using the transport control buttons.
You can choose options (timebase, bluesy, simple, etc.) for the selected RealTrack.
Enabling the List best subs for the current RealTracks option will list RealTracks that are similar to the currently selected
RealTracks.
Pressing the [Artist Bios] button opens the Artist Browser, which lists all RealTracks artists and allows you to see more info.
Select Soloist Dialog
To select a pre-made Soloist, press Shift+F4, or choose Soloist | Generate and Play a Solo. The Select Soloist dialog will open.
You can also Ctrl+click on the [Soloist] button, or select Open Soloist Dialog to choose MIDI or RealTracks Soloist from the
[Soloist] button drop-down menu.

Tip: Band-in-a-Box even solos over the “slash chords.” The Band-in-a-Box Soloist feature analyzes slash chords like C/Bb to determine the
best scale type to use (e.g., Bb Lydian). There’s nothing you need to do, as this happens automatically!
Pick a type of Soloist in the Solo in a style similar to list box and choose the appropriate style or enable the Auto checkbox and
press the [Suggest] button next to it. This shows a list of Soloists in that style; simply choose the one you like.
You can select genres of Soloists (e.g., Modern Jazz) and see only Soloists in that genre. To do this, de-select the All Genres
checkbox and check on the genre that you are interested in.
The [Fav] button shows a list of the most recently used (favorite) 50 Soloists. The Soloists that you use most often will likely be
at or near the top of this list, making it easier to select the Soloist you want than scrolling through your entire list of available
Soloists.
The [All RealTracks] button shows only the Soloists (#361 and above) that are RealTracks.
With the Show N/A option, you can choose whether the list shows Soloists from Soloist Sets that you don’t have.
If you can’t find the Soloist you’re looking for, press the [Search] button and type in part of a name.
The [Go To #] button allows you to select from the list exactly which Soloist to choose (if known).
The Memo field has a brief description of the Soloist style, and the name of the current database is shown.
Instrument / Harmony / Style / Change Instrument: The pre-made Soloists may set the style, instrument, and harmony, but
you can change these settings to your own choices. The [Clear] buttons will remove the currently selected Instrument,
Harmony, or Style. Use the [Choose(1)] button to select an instrument and automatically set the Soloist note range for that
instrument. For a harmonized solo, choose a harmony from the Harmony list. Use the [Choose(2)] button to select any style
from the C:\bb\Styles folder.
Solo Mode: In Normal mode, Band-in-a-Box solos in the normal way of improvising choruses of the song. Several other
options are provided for adding improvisation to your song in a variety of ways, including Fills, Around Melody, Trade, Solo
Wizard, and a user-defined Custom setting.
Fills% - Fill instructs the Soloist to play fills or “noodle” on the song for a user-defined period of time (% box).
Around Melody - To solo around the Melody, do the following:
- Open a song that has a Melody, preferably a sparse Melody with some space in it so that a Soloist might be able to “jump in.”
- Press the [Soloist] button. Select the Solo Mode “Around Melody.”

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- Set the Soloist to play in All Choruses and uncheck the “Mute Melody in Middle” option.
- Press [OK] and the Solo will be generated, playing riffs at times when the Melody isn’t playing.
Tip: For added effect, add a guitar chord solo to the Soloist part using the Chord Solo button in the Guitar window and choosing Solo as the
destination, or simply choose a Guitar Harmony like 32 J Pass.
Trade - There is a type of soloing where different Soloists trade phrases. For example, “trading fours” refers to a solo lasting
four bars, usually followed by a different melodic solo or drum solo for the next four bars. Band-in-a-Box can trade 2, 4, or 8-
bar phrases. This means that you can alternate your own phrases with those played by the Soloist. Click on the number button
beside the “Trade” radio button to toggle between trading 2’s, 4’s, or 8’s. Band-in-a-Box can generate the first phrase or the
second phrase.
Soloist Wizard - This option enables the Soloist Wizard. As you play notes on either a MIDI keyboard connected to the
computer or on the QWERTY keyboard, the program will play correct notes in the style of the current Soloist! This means that
you can play a “perfect” solo every time, simply by pressing any key on your MIDI keyboard or QWERTY keys.
Tip: The Soloist will use the velocities you play or pick its own, depending on the setting in Options | Preferences | Soloist | Use MIDI velocity
for Soloist Wizard.
The [Custom] button launches the Generate Solo for a Specific Range of Bars dialog. This allows you to set the range for the
solo.
Tip: You can have these values preset to the values you’d like by first
selecting/highlighting the range of bars that you’d like from the Chord Sheet
screen, then clicking on the Soloist button.
OK to solo for an extra beat: Usually, Soloists end a little after a bar’s
end – they play a couple of extra notes, spilling over to the next bar.
Selecting this option gives Band-in-a-Box Soloist this ability also.
Overwrite existing solo in range: If you want to “overdub” a solo and
have multiple solo tracks going at once, deselect this checkbox, and avoid
getting a little messy.
[Generate Solo Now]: Once you press this button, the portion of the solo that you have selected will be generated. The song
will start playing two bars before the new part, so you can quickly hear the new solo. Remember that the custom solo generation
can be used with different Soloists, so you can use a “tenor sax jazz” Soloist for a few bars, and then insert a custom “bluegrass
banjo” Soloist for four bars and so on.
Solo Which Choruses?: Select which choruses you would like the Soloist to solo over. Choose from first, middle, last, any
combination, or all three choruses. Press the [All Solo] button if you wish to have the Soloist play over everything. Press the
[Melody & Solo] button to have the Melody play the first chorus, then have the Soloist come in on the second chorus, then have
the Melody “play the tune out” on the last chorus.
Enable the Double Time? option if you want a double-time solo; 16th notes instead of 8ths.
Force to # of Choruses: Allows you to set a song to a definable number of choruses (e.g., 5) so that there are enough choruses
for everyone to take a turn Soloing. This box allows you to quickly decide how many choruses you would like Band-in-a-Box to
generate without having to open the Play | Looping | Force loaded songs to # choruses menu item. The default is 5. Note that
when this setting is enabled (by setting the checkbox to “true”), all songs subsequently loaded using this Soloist will also change
to the number of choruses indicated in this box.
Load settings w/song / Save settings w/song: These settings allow the saving and loading of Soloist settings. Enable these
checkboxes if you wish to load and save these settings with a song.
The Soloist Maker [Edit] button launches the Soloist Editor module where you can make your own or modify an existing
Soloist.
More Soloist Settings
The [More] button launches the More Soloist & Melodist Settings dialog. This dialog can also be accessed from the Options |
Preferences [Soloist] button.

Set Use MIDI Volume for Soloing Wizard to true if you want MIDI velocity information
sent to the Soloing Wizard. If you have a velocity sensitive MIDI device attached to your
computer and you want to control the dynamics of the Soloist, you should enable this feature.
Set the Trigger Solo Playback Early to true to enable song playback to start before the
Soloist has actually completed composing a solo. Otherwise, Band-in-a-Box will completely
compose a solo before song playback begins.
Soloist/Melody Velocity Adjust: This box allows you to quickly boost or reduce the volume
of the Soloist track relative to the other tracks. For a realistic mix the Soloist instrument is set
slightly louder than the other instruments/parts in a song. The default is 5.

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Use large Soloist files (ST3) is selected to use the optional large Soloist databases, *.ST3 files, instead of the smaller ST2 files.
The ST3 files have improved phrases, but the solos take longer to create.
Create Long Phrases: Set this checkbox to “true” (enabled) if you would like the Soloist to use the longest musical phrases it
“knows.”
If OK to treat the V Major triad as a V7 is set, all jazz MIDI Soloists and some jazz and country RealSoloists will treat the V
chord as V7 (dominant seventh).
Melody Influenced Solos
When musicians solo for a song, the solo is typically influenced by the melody as well as the chords. Band-in-a-Box can also
allow the melody to influence the type of solo generated by its Soloist feature. The result is a much better solo generated for the
song.
The Strength (%) setting allows you to control how much the solo will be influenced by the
melody. Choose the melody influence (%), and one of several presets to control the type of
influence (pitches/rhythms/note density, etc.).
To generate a solo that is influenced by the Melody, select the Enabled checkbox. Then choose the type of influence by
choosing a strength (0 to 100%) and a type. The default method works best on simple melodies or Pop tunes, and others work on
jazz and complex melodies. Selecting “Custom” from the Method option lets you change various parameters to control how the
solo will match the notes, rhythm, and density of the melody. When this method is selected a [+...] button will display. Click on
this button to open the Melody Influenced Soloist Settings dialog.

Enable Melody Influenced Soloist: When selected, this

enables melody influenced soloing.
Overall strength: This determines how much you want the
melody to influence the solo.
First melody note MUST match riff: The first note of the
riff must match the pitch of the melody at this point in the
song.
Last melody note MUST match riff: The last note of the
riff must match the pitch of the melody at this point in the
song.
Overall Melody MUST match riff: The pitch needs to be
found somewhere in the riff for this condition to be true.
Target Phrase Anchor Point score: The phrase anchor
points are points where both the pitch and timing of the
Melody note and the riff match each other.
Rhythm Matches: Enter the percentage of time that a melody note is found at the same time as the note in the riff at the same
point (pitch is irrelevant).
Density -# of Notes Matches: Enter the number of notes in the melody compared to the number of notes in the solo. For
example, 8 melody, 10 solo = 80%. Note: If set to exactly 49, 59, 69 etc., Soloist will stay quieter when the melody is not
playing.
Passing Notes acceptable %: Enter the percentage of time that passing notes in the riff are OK (if not found in the melody). For
example, a setting of 20% means it is OK if 20% of the notes are passing notes.
Melody – Favor phrases that match melody: Higher numbers will make the Soloist follow the melody more.
Using the Soloist Feature
1. Generate a Soloist and practice the solo by looping it, slowing it down, or printing it out, until you can perform a great solo
on any chord changes!
2. Generate a Soloist and attach a Harmony such as “Big Band Brass” to create phenomenally quick and interesting Big Band
Arrangements automatically. Generate a standard MIDI file or print them out for you and your friends.
3. Have the Soloist play a solo according to your accompaniment and arrangement (along with the other members of your Band-
in-a-Box, of course!)
4. Trade 4’s in a call-response fashion with the Soloist (you solo for 4 bars, Band-in-a-Box solos for 4 bars, etc.)
5. Concentrate separately on different aspects of your playing with assistance from the “Wizard.” From soloing with proper
phrasing and “feel” (the best notes are included automatically) to accompanying a Soloist with confidence and authority.
(Tip: Try muting one of the accompaniment tracks such as the piano or guitar track and play along to the Soloist in a
supportive role - it’s fun!)
6. Use the Soloist track to record another part in addition to the Melody and other parts provided by Band-in-a-Box.

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7. Generate a Soloist on chords/keys that you want to practice. Band-in-a-Box will play and solo with you all day without
getting bored. For example, if you want to work on your II-V7-I progressions (“two-five-one”), you can just type the chords
you want, and generate a solo to play over those changes. As the solo plays, you see the notation, can you can sight read
along. Pressing the “Loop Screen” checkbox on the notation will loop the notation the screen so you can master each 4-bar
phrase (II-V-I) and then move ahead to the next one!
Technical Notes:
1. The Soloist has its own separate channel and settings. But when the Soloist uses a harmony, it becomes linked to the Thru Harmony
channels and settings. Since we are already using 12 of the available 16 MIDI channels in Band-in-a-Box, we didn’t want to use up another 2
channels on dedicated Soloist Harmony channels. So, if you want to hear a Soloist with harmony, use the THRU Harmony settings. In other
words, wherever a Thru harmony is selected, the Soloist track will use the Thru Harmony settings.
2. We have designed the Soloist to not repeat any solo ideas so that the solos are always fresh, with new ideas forming and playing all the
time. As a result, we have included a refresh Soloist menu item (under the Soloist menu) that, when selected, will allow the Soloist to think
about all of its musical notions again.
Choosing the Refresh Soloist option is like telling the Soloist “It’s O.K., you can play whatever you like, even if it’s something that you played 5
minutes ago...” It’s a good idea to refresh the Soloist regularly to ensure maximum “idea” availability.
3. The Soloist menu contains many options. It has all of the same editing options found in the melody menu, so you can treat the Soloist track
as a 2nd melody track. Even if you don’t plan on using the Automatic Soloist feature, you can just use the Soloist track as a 2nd track for
counter melodies, overdubs etc. The result: two melody tracks, two solo tracks, or one melody and one solo track all at your disposal for any
song, without having to resort to an outboard sequencer.

Auto Piano Hand-splitting

This feature applies to the Piano, Melody, and Soloist tracks. It is found in the Notation Window Options and in both the
Melody and Soloist menus.
Piano Track (Notation Options)
The Piano track can be displayed on both clefs, using intelligent hand-splitting routines that
dynamically the split point. This happens automatically.
When you do this, the Piano track (not any other track) will be displayed on both clefs with intelligent hand-splitting. You can
print out the Piano track with the hands separated.
Melody and Soloist Tracks
You can also manually split a piano part on the Melody or Soloist track using the intelligent hand-splitting routines. The
left/right hands display in red/blue on the big piano, and on bass/treble clefs on the notation. Import a piano MIDI file to the
Melody track to get a split-hands display and printout!
For example, if you have a MIDI file that is a solo piano piece, File | Open Special | Open MIDI File will put the music on the
Melody track. Then choose Melody | Edit Melody Track | Piano Hand Split. Make sure that Melody | Track Type is set to piano.
You will then see the piano part split intelligently into 2 hands.
When this is done, the left hand will be stored on channel 8, and the right hand on channel 9, on the Melody track. You can
export the MIDI file to a sequencer, and these 8/9 channel assignments will be preserved.

Automatic Guitar Solos – “The Guitarist”

The Guitarist allows you to generate a guitar chord solo for any melody. Band-in-a-Box will intelligently arrange the melody to
a guitar chord solo by inserting real guitar voicings throughout the piece. You can select from among many “Guitarists” in order
to create your arrangement. You can also define your own Guitarists; choosing parameters such as strum speed, types of
voicings (Pop/Jazz), embellishments, and much more.
Load a song with a melody in it. Then press the [Chord Solo] toolbar button or select the Melody | Edit Melody Track |
Generate Guitar Chord Solo. menu item. You will then see the Generate Guitar Chord Solo dialog.

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Here are the steps to generate a guitar chord solo:
1. Select the Guitarist to use.
In the main list at the left of the dialog, you see the list of the Guitarists that are already defined.
For example, you can see that Guitarist #2 is called “Jazz Guitar, single position.” That will
create guitar chord solos that stick to a single position on the guitar neck whenever possible.
2. Select Melody (or Soloist) track.

Normally, the guitar chord solo is written to the Melody track, but you can also select the
Soloist track as the destination.
3. Confirm the Guitar Patch selection.

The Guitarist that you pick will already have chosen the guitar patch to use, but you can
override it with this setting.
4. Select the Range of the song to use.
You can either generate a guitar chord solo for the whole song or just a region of the song. In either case,
remember that you need to have an existing melody to work with.

5. Select the Main Guitar Position to use.

The “Auto-Set” feature sets the main guitar position for the solo based on the key
signature. For example, in the key of C, Band-in-a-Box will choose the 5th position as the
best position for the chord solo to be played.
If you wanted the solo to be in the 12th position, you could de-select the “Auto-Set” and then set the guitar position to 12th
position.
If you already have a guitar track that has guitar channels (if it was played on a guitar controller as
a single string guitar part), then you might want to tell Band-in-a-Box not to change the guitar positions of the notes that it finds.
Otherwise, set “OK to change existing guitar channels” to true.
6. Press OK to generate the Solo.
You will then see a message that tells you a solo has been added to the
track.

As you listen to the solo, you will notice the following:

- Some of the notes are left as melody, and some are assigned to chords.
- A wide variety of guitar chords are used, including some advanced chords. All of them are popular chords played by real
guitarists – there are no theoretical chords.
- The chords are strummed, to simulate a real guitar player.
- The Track Type for the Melody has been set to Guitar so the notation shows [Tab], and the MIDI file will be saved with the
Guitar Channels (11-16) preserved which preserves the fret positions.
- All of these items can be customized in the Guitarist Editor.

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 Technical Note: Since some of the guitarists can be assigned to strum the chords in a delayed fashion, if you repeatedly re-generate the solo,
the melody will become more and more delayed. The solution(s) for this occurrence would be to choose Edit | Undo Solo prior to regenerating
the solo or picking a Guitarist that doesn’t delay the strum. The Strum Delay Status is indicated on the “Info” panel of the Select Guitarist
screen.
ONCE YOU HAVE GENERATED A GUITAR CHORD SOLO…
The chord solo is now part of the notation track. You can edit it like any other part, by deleting/inserting notes, etc. You can use
the special guitar features discussed in the Guitar Window section to change the guitar voicings or replace a note with a chord
and vice versa.
When you have a note or chord highlighted using the Chord Step Advance keys ([Ins] or [Del] on the NUMPAD keypad), press
the [Ch-] or [Ch+] button on the Guitar window (or [7] or [8] on the NUMPAD keypad). Each time you press the [Ch-] or
[Ch+], you will see that the guitar chord changes to a different voicing, cycling through the available 5-10 voicings possible for
each chord. Some notes won’t have any chord voicings, for example a C# note on a Cmaj7 chord, because it is always a passing
tone.
In a similar manner, you can convert a chord to a guitar note, and use the Insert Guitar Note button for this. Pressing the [N-] or
[N+] (or [3] or [4] on the NUMPAD keypad) repeatedly cycles through playing the same note on all 6 strings.
The solo will be saved with the song (.MGU) and exported to a MIDI file with the string positions intact because we use
channels 11 to 16 for the Guitar part. You can remove the solo at any time, even after the solo has been saved or reloaded, by
choosing Melody | Edit Melody Track | Remove Harmony (or guitar solo) from Melody Track menu item.
Guitarists can be customized using the Guitarist Maker, described in the User Programmable Functions chapter of this
manual.

Automatic Embellishments – “The Embellisher”

Overview
When musicians see a lead sheet that has a melody written out, they almost never play it exactly as written. They change the
timing to add syncopation, change durations to achieve staccato or legato playing, add grace notes, slurs, extra notes, vibrato and
other effects. You can have Band-in-a-Box do these automatically using the Embellisher so that you hear a livelier, more
realistic Melody - and it’s different every time. The Embellisher is only active while the music is playing; it doesn’t permanently
affect the Melody track. There is an option to make the embellishment permanent, so that if you like a certain embellishment
you can add it to the Melody track.
Using the Embellisher
The Melody Embellisher feature is turned on and off with the [Embellish Melody] toolbar button or with Ctrl+Alt+E keys.
The Embellisher only functions during playback.

You will see the Embellished Melody on the notation as the Melody plays, so you can see the Embellished notes. When [Stop]
is pressed, the notation will revert to the original (unembellished) melody. The embellishment changes timing of notes,
durations, velocities, legato, as well as adding grace notes, additional notes and turns. Here is a “before and after” example that
shows a typical embellishment of a Melody.
Normal (unembellished) Melody…

Embellished Melody…
As you can see in the notation examples, the embellished melody adds an anticipation in
bar 9, and in bar 10 adds extra notes, timing changes, and grace notes to “spice up” the
melody.

If you disable the Embellisher, by de-selecting the Embellish Melody during playback or by pressing the Ctrl+Alt+E keys, then
the melody (or solo) will play as normal with no changes.
Melody Embellisher Settings
The Embellisher settings are accessed during playback with the Embellisher button in the main screen toolbar, or with the menu
item Melody | Embellish Melody | Embellish Melody Dialog, or with the key strokes Ctrl+Alt+L.
There is a Melody Embellisher dialog that allows you to:

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- Customize the settings of the Embellisher or choose Embellisher presets.
- Make a particular embellishment permanent.
Live Auto-embellish during every playback is the
same setting as the Embellish Melody during playback
checkbox in the [Embellish Melody] toolbar button. If
enabled, embellishment will occur during every
playback. If disabled, embellishment will not occur
unless you choose the [Embellish NOW] button in the
dialog.
Settings: The settings that affect the embellishment can
be turned on and off and given a percentage strength.
Humanize: The velocities, durations (legato), and
timing of the notes are humanized. The original
velocities etc. of the notes are ignored. The option to
only humanize the timing of the music if the timing was
“stiff” to begin with allows the Embellisher to leave the
timing of human input melodies alone and humanize
only the ones that were entered in step-time.
Adjust Octave: The octave of the Melody is changed to
the best octave for the current Melody instrument. For
example, if the instrument were a piccolo, the octave
would be raised to the best range for a piccolo.
Anticipations: An anticipated note is playing a note early (“ahead of the beat”).

Unembellished notes. ANTICIPATIONS on beat 1 and 3.

Less Anticipations: This is the opposite of anticipations. This finds notes that are anticipated, and “embellishes” them by
playing them later (on the beat).
Grace Notes: The grace notes are brief notes played just before, and a semi-tone below the original note. The grace notes
intentionally don’t show on the notation, so that it will remain easily readable. They can be heard.
Doubled Notes: Melody notes are doubled with the same pitch.

Unembellished. Quarter note doubled.

Extra Notes: Extra notes are added between melody notes.

Unembellished. With extra notes added.

Note Turns: With a note turn, a single note is replaced by a group of notes that include the original note and semitone or scale
tones above and below the note. In this “before and after” example, the C note is replaced by a turn of 3 notes with a note a scale
tone above the C.

Unembellished. Embellished with turn.

Vibrato: Vibrato can be added according to the additional vibrato settings available in the “More” dialog. The vibrato can’t be
seen on the notation window, but you can examine the events in the Event List Editor.

“Laid-back” feeling to Melody: If set, the Melody will be delayed a little, providing a laid-back feeling.
Track to use: The Embellisher is usually referred to as the Melody Embellisher, because you would usually want to have it on
the Melody track. But if you like, you can choose to embellish the Soloist track.
[Restore Original Melody]: If you have done this, and want to restore the original Melody, you can press this button.
Preset: The presets allow you to quickly choose common combinations of settings for the Embellisher.
Memo: This describes the current embellishment, with statistics counting the number of embellished notes.

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[Update Current Embellishment]: If the song is playing and the Embellisher is enabled, you can update the embellishment by
pressing this button. This is useful if you’ve changed settings and want to hear what the new embellishment sounds like.
[Defaults]: This button reverts to the original Embellisher settings.
[More]: There are additional settings, in the Embellisher Additional Settings dialog. This allows you to set advanced settings
for the Embellisher. These include:
­ Vibrato Depth: The amplitude of the vibrato, in a range from 0-127.
­ Vibrato Speed: This is the speed of the vibrato (slow-fast) range 0-127.
­ Only use Vibrato if Note is this many ticks: For example, if set to 120 ticks (one quarter note), then only notes of duration at
least 120 ticks will get vibrato.
­ Start the Vibrato after this many ticks: For notes that will get vibrato, the vibrato will start after this many ticks.
­ Adjust Octave Method: If the octave is to be adjusted, it will either only adjust it if the notes are outside the playable range,
or always adjust it to the best octave, according to the setting you make here.
­ Dynamic Range: Refers to the range of velocities used for the humanization. Useful range 30-50.
­ Legato Settings: Refers to the amount of legato for the notes. Useful range 55 to 75.
[Stats]: This displays the same thing that appears in the Memo field but will display it even when there is no current
embellishment.
[Export] [Import]: You can save/load your own presets for the Embellisher. When you have made a custom setting in the
Embellisher dialog, press the [Export] button to save the data as an .EMB file. When you want to recall the saved preset, press
the [Import] button, and load in a previously made .EMB file. You can share your favorite presets with other installations of
Band-in-a-Box using the EMB files.
[(Re-)Embellish NOW – Permanent]: If the song is not currently playing, you can still create an embellishment and have it
apply permanently by pressing this button. The original melody is not affected permanently unless you have pressed this button.
[Make Current Embellishment Permanent]: Normally, the embellishment occurs live when the song is playing and doesn’t
affect the melody permanently. But if you like the Embellishment, and want to apply it permanently to the melody, you can
choose the “Make Current Embellishment Permanent” option.
[Undo]: You can use the [Undo] button to reverse a permanent embellishment before the song is saved to file.
[Play] [Stop] [Pause]: Use these transport controls for song playback within the Melody Embellisher dialog.

238 Chapter 9: Automatic Music Features

 Chapter 10: Working with MIDI
Band-in-a-Box has a built-in sequencer, which allows you to record and edit MIDI. MIDI can be recorded in several ways:
- Live with a MIDI keyboard, MIDI guitar, or MIDI wind controller.
- In step time by entering notes in the Notation window with the mouse.
- Using the Wizard feature to “play” notes with your QWERTY keyboard.
- Importing a pre-recorded Standard MIDI File.

Recording Live in Real Time

You can punch in/out, do unlimited overdubs, record directly to the tag or the ending, and start recording from any bar.
To record live using your MIDI keyboard, guitar, or wind controller, click on the [Record MIDI] button, press the
Ctrl+R keys, or choose the menu option Melody | Edit Melody Track | Record Melody. The Record MIDI dialog will
appear.

Set the start point for the recording and select the destination track. If there are underlying MIDI notes in the destination track,
you can choose the option to merge or overwrite them.
Pressing the [Filter] button will open the Record Filter dialog, which allows you to choose the types of MIDI data to be
recorded.
Press the [Record] button or the R key to begin recording.
Stop recording by pressing the Esc key or the spacebar, or by clicking the [Stop] button. The Notes Recorded dialog will then
open.
[OK - Keep Take] saves the take you just recorded. Remember that it’s
easy to fix small glitches in the Editable Notation window or in the Event
List editor.
[Take Again] lets you quickly reject a take and start the recording again.
Press the A key to do this with a keystroke.
[Cancel] ends the recording session; nothing is saved. To start again,
press the [Record MIDI] button or the Ctrl+R keys.
Copy 1st chorus to whole song: If you have recorded one chorus of the song, checking this at the end of the recording will
copy the same recording to all of the choruses.
Overdub Underlying melody: You have the option to merge the recording with the existing melody. If there is no underlying
melody, this option will be grayed out.
Retain Melody past last recorded: You have the option to erase any melody after the last recorded melody note or keep it. Use
this feature when you want to punch out at the end of a take.
If you have recorded to a multi-channel track, the dialog shows additional options to select the output channel and the
instrument for that channel.
Recording to an external sequencer
Many people use Band-in-a-Box in live situations. If you are unable to bring your computer with you, a good alternative is a
hardware sequencer or a keyboard with a built-in sequencer that reads Standard MIDI Files. To transfer songs to the Sound
Brush, follow these simple steps:
- Make a MIDI file of the song by pressing the button.
- Either save the file directly to a floppy disk or copy it to the floppy from your hard drive.
- The Sound Brush is then able to read the IBM formatted disk with MIDI files on it.

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Entering Notes Manually
You can enter melody notes directly to the track in the Notation window in either the Editable Notation Mode or the Staff Roll
Mode.
Enter the Editable Notation mode from the Standard Notation screen with a single click on the Editable Notation button. In
the Editable Notation mode, you can enter, move, and edit notes and rests using standard mouse techniques – point and click,
drag and drop, and right-click to open the Note Edit dialog.
Confirmation dialogs prevent accidental entry of a duplicate note (same pitch near same time) and accidental entry of a very
high or very low note (large # of ledger lines).
Once you have some melody entered, you can copy and paste chunks of it as
you would in a text document. To copy and paste notation, highlight an area of
notation by dragging the mouse over the region. Then select Edit | Copy.

Click on the place where you want to paste to (by clicking at the time line on top of the Notation window) and then choose Edit |
Paste. You can specify a precise paste location in the Paste Melody dialog.

Recording with the Play Along Wizard Feature

This is a very helpful feature if you don’t have a MIDI keyboard but you want to record with a “live” feel. Use the Wizard to
record notes from the computer’s QWERTY keyboard for a track that’s more natural than step time. Here’s how it works.
1. Click on the [MIDI] toolbar button and check MIDI Keyboard Wizard Enabled. You can also select the Wizard Playalong
feature option from the Play menu.

2. Press Ctrl+R keys to record.

3. As the song plays, play the melody on any keys on the bottom two rows of the QWERTY keyboard, in the rhythm of the
melody. The “wizard” notes won’t be the correct melody of course, but don’t worry about that as you record. When you’re
finished, look in the Notation window. You will see the wrong notes in the right places with the correct durations.
4. Drag the notes (with the left mouse button) to the correct place on the staff. You will hear the notes play as you drag them,
and the names will show in the note name box. For sharps, flats, and naturals, hold down the Shift key, Ctrl key, or Alt key
respectively. You will end up with a melody that sounds like it was recorded live, without the rigid feel of tracks entered in
step time.
Tip: If you have the Wizard “On” the spacebar won’t stop playback. You need to press the Esc key to stop playback when the Wizard is on.
This is to prevent stopping the song if you mistakenly hit the spacebar while playing the Wizard.

Melody Wizard
For songs with melodies, there are QWERTY keys (Enter, \ , T, 6) that trigger notes from the melody as the song is being
played. Other keys trigger 1-4 approach notes from below or above. The notes can be recorded, to humanize a stiff melody with
better timing, and approach notes also useful for sight reading, rhythm practice, or to perform. This feature works with
harmonies.
- Melody notes: T, 6, Enter, \

240 Chapter 10: Working With MIDI

- Same Melody note: 5
- Approach notes: QWER YUIO
- Octave set: 1, 2, 3
MIDI notes also work (if Preferences [Transpose] is set to “Allow Melody Wizard on THRU part”).
- Octave set: E(40), F(41), G(43)
- Melody notes: F(53), G(55)
- Approach notes: B(47), C, D, E, A, B, C, D(62)
To use the Melody Wizard, make sure the Keyboard Wizard is enabled. This will also enable the MIDI Wizard on the
QWERTY keys.
Then, open a song that has a melody.
Mute the Melody track with the Alt+8 keys.
Play the song. As you play the song, you can use the Enter key or the \ key (or T or 6 above the T) to play melody notes.
- W E R T: These will be approach notes up to the melody. You can start on any note.
- Q E R T: Starting on a Q instead of W will use wider voicings for approach notes.
- I U Y T: These will be approach notes down to the melody. Start on any note.
- O U Y T: Starting on an O instead of I will use wider voicings for approach notes.
MIDI Keyboard Wizard
The Wizard can also be used with a connected MIDI keyboard. The keyboard wizard always plays correct notes and is a fun
way to play along with Band-in-a-Box. The MIDI keyboard also sends volume information (unlike the QWERTY keyboard), so
is a better choice if you have a MIDI keyboard connected.
This feature is accessed with the [Transpose] button in the Preferences dialog. To turn on the Wizard to allow MIDI control,
choose “Use Wizard for THRU part.”
Now, when you play notes on the MIDI keyboard (during playback), they will get remapped to chord tones. C/E/G/Bb notes
played on a THRU keyboard will be mapped to chord tones, and D/F/A/B will be passing tones. This scale - C D E F G A Bb B
- is considered the “Bebop” scale, useful for playing over dominant 7th chords.
The Wizard is useful for entering notation quickly. If you can’t play piano well, play the wizard in the correct rhythm. The
pitches will be wrong, but you can fix them in the Editable Notation window later, and the durations, volume, and timing are
already correct.

Melody/Soloist Sequencer
Normally, you would want a single part on the Melody or Soloist track, but since MIDI information can have separate channels,
it is possible to store 16 separate parts on each of the tracks. For the following discussion, we will assume that you’re using the
Melody track, but the same functions are available for the Soloist. When the Melody track has been set to “Multi(16)-Channel”
we refer to this as “Sequencer Mode.”
Also, for this discussion we will assume that you have a multi-channel track loaded in. Let’s load a MIDI file, using File | Open
MIDI file, and choosing a MIDI file like C:\bb\Documentation\Tutorials\violet.MID.
If you want to use the 16 separate parts for the Melody track, you need to set the Melody Track type to “Multi-Channel.” This is
done from the Melody menu or with the [Sequencer] button.

Now, when you are in this multi-channel mode, output from the Melody track will be on whatever MIDI channel the
information is stored on and will not be using the Melody MIDI Channel.
You can examine the track to see the channels by looking at the event list, which you can access by pressing the [#] button on
the Notation window.
You will notice that the information in the event list is color coded by channels for multi-channel tracks. For example, channel 7
is pink, and channel 10 is gold.

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If you open the Lead Sheet window, you will see the entire MIDI file displayed on separate tracks of notation. Since this
represents 6 separate tracks (in the case of violet.MID), this is likely “too much information” for you to read, unless you are a
symphony conductor.
To customize the notation display for sequencer mode, press the [Opt.] button in the Lead Sheet window, and see the settings
for Multi-Channel Tracks.
Choose the “CUSTOM channels play/display” option and press the [Set] button to
launch the Sequencer Window. Then you can customize which channels will play and
display.

In the example picture, we have set Channel 2 (Bass) and Channel 4 (Trumpet) to show on the notation, and have set all of the
channels to play (to hear them).
For a specific channel, (e.g., channel 3: piano), we see the following information.
Channel 3: Acoustic Piano (this is the patch name found on the track).
842: There are 842 events in the track, usually every note is an event.
We have customized the piano track so that it can be heard (play=true), but not seen in notation (Show=false).

242 Chapter 10: Working With MIDI

 There is a small button at the right of the track line that allows you to delete,
rechannel or merge the channel with another channel.
You can also change the patch (instrument) for that track by using the
instrument patch combo box.

So now that we’ve customized the display, we are seeing the bass and trumpet on the notation and hearing the entire track.
Removing All Tracks Except Melody from a MIDI File
One use for the Sequencer mode is to load in a MIDI file, and then delete all of the channels except the melody,
so that you can allow the Band-in-a-Box rhythm section to provide the accompaniment. To do this, open the
Sequencer window, and use the Edit pull down menu to delete all tracks except the melody.
Once you have done this, you don’t need the Melody | Track Type to be multi-channel anymore, so you should set it to be Track
Type [Single Channel], so that it will be like any other Band-in-a-Box song and use the Melody channel for playback.

Recording Your Own Parts to The Melody Sequencer

Normally, you would record your parts to the Melody track, and not be concerned about what MIDI channel they are using,
because Band-in-a-Box uses the Melody channel (usually channel 4) for this.
But if you have set the Track type to be multi-channel, the output on the Melody track will be whatever channel is stored in the
tracks.
When you record a melody and the track type is set to multi-channel, the “Keep Take” dialog
will have a selection for the channel that should be used for the recording.
Also, make sure that you have “Overdub underlying melody” checkbox set, or you won’t hear the other
melody parts during the recording.
Example: Recording 4 Separate Counter Melodies on The Melody Track
So, if you want to record, for example, 4 separate parts to go along with a Band-in-a-Box song, you should do the following.
1. Set the Melody track to Multi(16)-Channel (Sequencer).

2. Record a melody. At the end of the recording, pick a channel that is not already used by Band-in-a-Box. BB uses
channels 2-10, so channels 11 to 16 are available for your counter melody.
3. Repeat step 2 by recording additional melodies.

4. Assign patches to the melodies using the Sequencer Window.

Importing MIDI Files

Standard MIDI files can be read to your song from MIDI files or from the Windows® clipboard. You can read in all of a MIDI
file, or selected channels and a specific range of bars. Use one of the following two commands.
1. Melody | Edit Melody Track | Import Melody from MIDI File – to select a MIDI file from disk using the Windows® Open File
dialog.
2. Melody | Edit Melody Track | Import Melody from Clipboard - when the MIDI data is already copied from another program to
the Windows® clipboard. The clipboard option will be grayed out if there is no MIDI data in the clipboard.
Tip: You can also drag a MIDI file from the Explorer and drop it anywhere on the Band-in-a-Box screen.
The Import MIDI File dialog will open.

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Include Channels: You can hover the mouse cursor over the channel selector check boxes to see how many events are on each
channel. If you select all of the channels, Band-in-a-Box will merge them to the destination track.
Merge with Existing Data on the track: You can choose to merge the imported data with the existing data in the destination
track.
Destination Track: You can choose the destination track for each track for multi-track MIDI files.
Set all tracks to this: This allows you to set a destination track for all source tracks.
Include Continuous Controllers / Include Pitch Bend / Include Patch Changes / Include Lyrics: If you don’t need these
items, you can save space by not importing them.
Number of bars to offset from start of MIDI file: If you want to start reading from the beginning of the MIDI file, select 0 as
the offset. If you want to start at bar 32, for example, select an offset of 32 (bars).
How Many Bars to import: Leave this setting at the default of 1000 to read-in the entire file (unless it’s longer than 1000
bars!), or set it to the number of bars that want.
Number of blank bars to insert at beginning: This will insert blank bars into the track. Remember that Band-in-a-Box
normally has a 2-bar lead-in count. If your MIDI file has no lead-in, then you need to set this to = 2 to compensate for the 2 bars
of lead-in.
Include notes played before the bar by this # of ticks: If you’re reading in a MIDI file starting at bar 5, it would be annoying
to have a note that was played 1 tick earlier than bar 5 left out of the MIDI file that is read in. To include it, you can set this, and
the note will be read in.

Additional Options for Melody/Soloist Track

Choose Melody | Edit Melody Track | Quantize, Time Adjust | Time Shift Melody. This will move (slide) the melody a certain
number of ticks. There are 120 ticks per quarter note. For example, to give the song a more laid-back feel, shift the melody
about 10 ticks ahead.
In the same submenu, choose Insert Beats or Delete Beats to insert or delete beats in the Melody. For example, to insert 2 bars
in the melody at bar 5, choose Melody | Edit Melody Track | Quantize, Time Adjust | Insert Beats, select bar 5, and select 8 beats
(2 bars) to insert.

244 Chapter 10: Working With MIDI

Quantize Track
Melody | Edit Melody Track | Quantize, Time Adjust | Quantize Melody allows you to quantize the MIDI track.
Resolution: Choose the division you would like the track quantized to. Choosing 16 will
Quantize to 16th notes.
Starting at Bar # / Chorus #: Quantization will begin at the place you select and applied for
the Number of Bars to Quantize.
Strength of Quantization (%): Choose 100% if you want the notes quantized exactly to the
division. Otherwise, the notes will be moved the % toward the target quantization.
Quantize Start Times: By default, this option is set to “Yes.” If you don’t want the
beginnings of the notes quantized, set it to “No.”
Quantize Durations: This quantizes the END of the notes. By default, this is set to “Off.”

Humanize Track
Quantize routines can leave the music sounding stiff and unmusical. Some routines attempt to humanize a track by adding
“randomization,” which rarely has the desired effect since humans don’t randomly change timing or volume. Band-in-a-Box
uses intelligent humanization routines to humanize a melody from one feel to another, from one tempo to another, and vary the
amount of swing to 8th notes. The results are very musical, with natural sounding melodies.
Let’s look at some of the parameters found under Humanize.
In this example, Melody | Edit Melody Track | Quantize, Time Adjust | Humanize Melody was selected. The window for
Humanize Soloist is the same.
As you can see, we have broken down the Humanize effect into 5 main
categories: tempo, lateness, 8th note spacing, legato, and feel.
The best way to learn how these parameters combine is to try them (you can
always press the UNDO button if you don’t like the results.)
For example, try changing the tempo of a song to see the changes that this will
make to the 8th note spacing and lateness. Press the [Quantize NOW] button
to apply your changes to your song.

Tip: Often, when musicians play at faster tempos they play the swing 8th notes closer
together and a little later.

We feel that these categories are straightforward and you should have no trouble achieving the desired results. Remember to
apply such parameters as Legato and Lateness sparingly, then press the Quantize NOW button to apply your changes to your
song.

Editing MIDI Track

Event List Editor

You can edit events including all MIDI events and lyric events using the Event List Editor. It can be launched in several ways.

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- In the Melody menu, choose Edit Melody Track | Step Edit Melody.
- In the Soloist menu, choose Edit Soloist Track | Step Edit Soloist Part.
- In the Window menu, choose Notation | Event List Editor.
- In the Notation window, by pressing the event list button [#]. The dialog will display events on the selected track in the
Notation window.
The list uses a color coding based on Event Type, Channel, Duration, or Velocity.
If the color coding is based on “Event Type,” the list shows the event as follows.
- Notes starting near the beat boundary are dark pink.
- Notes starting on the off-beat are light pink.
- Patch changes are cyan.
- Controller changes are yellow.
- Pitch Bends are grey.
The Event List Editor allows you to modify, insert, and delete notes.
- Double-click on an event to edit it (or press the [Edit] button.)
- [Insert] puts an event before the current event.
- [Append] puts an event at the end of the track.
- [Delete] removes an event.
- [Show] exits the dialog and highlights the note in the Notation window.
- [Play] plays the current event and moves to the next event.
- [Update] redraws the notation screen.
- [Edit Lyrics] allows you to edit note-based lyrics.
Event List Filter
There is a filter for the Event List Editor, allowing you to quickly spot all patch changes.
For example, to examine the patch changes on the Melody track, choose “Use Event Filter,” and then press
the [Filter…] button.

In the Event List Filter, select the type of information you want to display. In this case, it is program changes (patches) only.

The track will then display with the program changes only.

246 Chapter 10: Working With MIDI

 The Event Type to Edit dialog opens when either the [Insert] or [Append] buttons are pressed
in the Event List Editor.
This dialog allows you to select which type of event to insert or append - note, controller, pitch
bend, etc. – and then opens the selected edit dialog.

Notation Window Editing

You can often get better results by using the Notation window to edit notes instead of the Event List Editor. To do this, open the
Notation window in either Editable Notation or Staff Roll Notation mode. In both of these modes, notes can be dragged and
dropped with the mouse.
For precise note editing, right-click on the note you want to edit and choose “Edit Note” in the contextual menu. This opens the
Note dialog where all of the parameters of the note can be addressed.

Piano Roll Window

The Piano Roll window enables precise graphic editing of note timing and duration. You can also graphically edit note
velocity, controllers, program changes, channel aftertouch, or pitch bend.
The Piano Roll may be opened as a movable window, which floats above the Band-in-a-Box main window or opened embedded
in the same position as the Chord Sheet/Notation panels in the Band-in-a-Box main window.

Note: A demo song PianoRollDemoSong.MGU in the C:\bb\Documentaion\Tutorials\Tutorial – BB 2005 Demo folder contains some MIDI data,
which can be seen in the Piano Roll window.

Track Selection
Click here to select the track to display.
Note: The accompaniment tracks will be overridden every time you press the [Generate and Play] button, so if you want to retain your edits,
press the [Play] button instead or freeze the track.

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Snap-to-Grid
Selections, Inserted Notes, or Edited Notes will snap to the grid spacing. If you do not want snap-to-grid, select
[NONE] in the drop-down menu.

Note Duration
Set the default duration of new inserted notes. It is easy to mouse-edit a note’s duration after a note is inserted, so it is
usually sufficient to select a typical note duration that makes sense for your purposes and then mouse-edit the
duration of “exception” notes after they are inserted.

View/Insert Channel
If a track contains multiple channels, “All” will display MIDI events on all channels. Otherwise, select the channel
that you need to see. If “All” is selected, new MIDI events are inserted on the Band-in-a-Box track’s assigned
channel.
Except for perhaps multi-channel Guitar tracks, Band-in-a-Box plays all track events on the assigned track channel.
Therefore, in almost all cases, the channel of track events does not matter.
For instance, if the Melody track is set to transmit on channel 4, all events on the Melody track will be sent on
channel 4 regardless of the “actual channel” of each track event.
Ghost Notes
When viewing a single channel, notes on other channels can be ghost-displayed in light gray. This is useful when
viewing multi-channel tracks.
View/Edit Graphic Data
Determine what graphic data to view or edit in the bottom Graphic Event panel. Choose Velocity,
Controller, Program Change, Channel Aftertouch, and Pitch Bend. If “Chan” is not set to “All,” only the
selected channel events will be displayed.

Playable Track
When the Playable Track mode is on, any note you enter will be heard during playback unlike RealCharts
notes.
Draw Velocity
If this checkbox is enabled, notes will be drawn with a faded color based on their velocity.
Track Auto Vertical Scroll
If you check this, the Piano Roll will automatically scroll vertically when switching tracks to keep the
average note range in view.
Keyboard Pitch Panel
1. Click on a single note of the keyboard to select all notes of the clicked pitch.
2. Click-drag on the keyboard to select all notes in a pitch range.
3. Shift-click-drag to add another set of notes to the selection.
4. Ctrl-click-drag to invert a pitch selection.
For instance, you could drag C5 thru C6 to select an octave of notes. Then Shift-click C3 to add all C3 notes to the
selection. Then Ctrl-click C5 to remove all C5 notes from the selection.

Cursor Location Info Panel

The Info Panel shows the cursor’s Bar:Beat:Tick and MIDI note or controller value (depending on the cursor
location). In cursor locations where a value would be nonsensical, the status text values are blank.
For instance, in the Note panel, Bar:Beat:Tick and Pitch are displayed. In the Ruler panels, only Bar:Beat:Tick is displayed. In
the left Piano panel, only Pitch is displayed. In the Graphic Event panel, Bar:Beat:Tick and Event Value are displayed.
Chords Ruler and Note Time Ruler
There are two top rulers. The top Chords Ruler displays chords and the Playback Location Indicator. The Note Time Ruler
displays bars and bar subdivisions. When zoomed-in, more subdivisions are displayed. When zoomed-out, fewer subdivisions
are displayed.

248 Chapter 10: Working With MIDI

Click or drag in the Chords Ruler to set the Insertion Point (useful if you wish to use the menu Edit | Paste (Ctrl+V) to paste
into the Piano Roll). If a song is playing, a Chords Ruler click will stop playback.
Double-click in the Chords Ruler to start playback at the indicated bar.
Splitter Bar
A vertical Splitter Bar sits between the Note and Graphic Event panels. If you want to maximize the Note Panel to see more
notes, drag the Splitter down. If you want to maximize the Graphic Event Panel for more accurate event editing, drag the Splitter
up.

Zoom Buttons
These buttons will zoom the Note Panel vertically.

Select notes and click this button. The vertical pitch range and horizontal time range will adjust to fill the Note Panel with
the selected notes.
This will return to the previous view range after zooming in on a region.
This will zoom the window so that all track notes are visible at a glance.
These buttons will zoom the window horizontally.
Note Panel

Horizontal bars represent notes. Notes can be selected, edited (start time, pitch, duration), inserted, and deleted.
Overlapping notes are displayed in bold aqua color, making them easy to identify. Overlapped notes can be eliminated from the
right-click menu in this window.

Note Selection
Selected notes are red.

1. Click on individual notes to select.

2. Shift-click on individual notes to add to the selection.
3. Ctrl-click on a note to invert (toggle) its selection.
Click on white space and then drag a rectangle around notes to select a group of notes.

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 Note: Only notes that start within the rectangle are selected. If the left edge of a note is not inside the rectangle, it will not be selected.
1. Shift-drag a rectangle to add another group of notes to the selection.
2. Ctrl-drag a rectangle to toggle the selection of the notes in the rectangle.
Notes can be selected with the Note Time Ruler.

1. Click-drag on the Note Time Ruler to select a time-range of notes.

2. Shift-click-drag to add a time-range of notes to the selection.
3. Ctrl-click-drag to invert the note selection of a time range.
For instance, you could drag to select all notes in bars 2 thru 7. Then you could Ctrl-drag to toggle off note selections in bar 4.
By using the Shift and Ctrl keys, very flexible time selections can be made.
Edit Note Time Stamp (start time)
Hover the cursor over the left of a note. An east-west cursor appears. Then click-drag the note to a new time (horizontal
dragging).

If multiple notes are selected and you want to move all selected notes, use Shift-click-drag. Otherwise, a click on a note will
deselect the previous selection, and it will only select/edit the clicked note.

Edit Note Pitch

Move the cursor over the middle of a note. A north-south cursor appears. Then click-drag the note pitch (vertical dragging).

If multiple notes are selected and you want to transpose all selected notes, use Shift-click-drag. Otherwise, a click on a note will
deselect the previous selection, and it will only select/transpose the clicked note.

Edit Note Duration

Move the cursor over the right of a note. A right-arrow cursor appears. Then click-drag the note duration (horizontal dragging).

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If multiple notes are selected, and you want to change duration of all selected notes, use Shift-click-drag. Otherwise, a click on a
note will deselect the previous selection, and it will only select/edit the clicked note.

Insert a Note
Hold the Shift+Ctrl keys. The cursor becomes a pencil. Click where you want the note and it is inserted with a duration from
the “Dur” drop-down menu, and on the channel selected by the “Chan” drop-down menu.

If “Snap” is enabled, the note is inserted at the nearest grid boundary. For instance, if the snap-to-grid setting is a quarter note,
inserted notes will snap to the nearest quarter note boundary.

There are many on-screen visual cues to assist cursor positioning. The Cursor Position Time Markers in the Time Rulers can
assist time positioning. The Cursor Pitch Marker in the Keyboard can assist pitch positioning. The Cursor Location Info Panel
gives precise time and pitch info. Also, the Note Panel has time grid markings, and pitch accidentals are marked in light gray on
the background.
Delete a Note
Select a note (or a group of notes), then tap the Delete key. Alternately, select notes, right-click, and choose Delete Selected
Events in the pop-up menu.
You can also use an eraser tool. Hold the Shift+Ctrl keys and hover the cursor over a note. When the cursor becomes an eraser,
click on a note to delete it. If multiple notes are selected, all selected notes will be deleted.

Graphic Event Panel

This panel graphically displays non-note MIDI events, which are specified in the Chan, View/Edit, and Controller Type
controls.
Zero-value events are drawn as small hollow squares, to make them easy to identify.
When graphically inserting controller and pitch bend events, the event density is adjustable from one event per 1 tick up to one
event per 30 ticks.

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With events such as pitch bend or controllers like modulation and sustain, it is important to take care to end a “gesture” with a
zero-value event. Otherwise, subsequent notes will be affected, with an unwanted “hanging” permanent pitch bend, permanent
vibrato, or sustain pedal locked down.
Velocity
Set the “View/Edit” control to “Velocity,” and the velocity events will display in the Graphic Event
panel.

You can increase/decrease velocities of the selected notes with hotkeys or the right-click menu.
+ (plus) increases velocities of all selected notes by 1.
Shift++ increase velocities of all selected notes by 5.
– (minus) decreases velocities of all selected notes by 1.
Shift+- decreases velocities of all selected notes by 5.
~ (tilde) randomizes velocities of the selected notes (-1 to +1).
Shift+~ randomizes velocities of the selected notes (-5 to +5).
Control
If “View/Edit” is set to “Control,” the Controller Type control becomes visible.
The Graphic Event Panel will display the chosen controller type. If “Chan” is not
set to “All,” only the selected channel events will be displayed.

Select “11 Expression MSB” in the Controller Type control.

The Expression controller is recognized by most modern synthesizers including most General MIDI synths. However, some
older synths do not recognize this controller. Expression is an alternative to “7 Main Volume MSB.” Use the Expression
controller for individual tracks and reserve the main Volume controller for overall track loudness. That way, you can use the
Band-in-a-Box main window Volume controls without affecting individual notes in the track.
In the example shown, the intro flute ostinato pattern fades in, and then fades back out, via the expression controllers. These
events were entered with the Line Tool. Notice that before the trumpet comes in, there is a single expression event of value 127,
to kick the loudness up to normal.
Single controllers are inserted by moving the mouse cursor to the desired position and then clicking the mouse button.

Select “1 Mod Wheel MSB” in the Controller Type control.

The Modulation controller is not firmly defined, but it is usually a Vibrato or Tremolo effect (especially in General MIDI
synths).
Play the demo song and watch how Modulation has been added to some notes to add Vibrato. It is usually best to use a modest
amount. With graphic edits, too much is almost always too much!
Program Change

Set the “View/Edit” control to “Program,” and the program changes will display in the Graphic Event
Panel. The demo song intro has a flute program change. Then the first chorus is trumpet, the second chorus is flute, and the third
chorus is soprano sax.

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Channel Aftertouch
Set the “View/Edit” control to “ChnAfter” and you can see the Channel Aftertouch events in the Graphic
Event Panel.

Pitch Bend
Set the “View/Edit” control to “Pitch Bend.” Play the demo song and watch how a few pitch bends have
been inserted to “scoop” some note attacks, “sting” the middle of a note, or “fall off” some note releases.

Event Selection
Selected Events are red.

Graphic events can be selected with the Graphic Event Ruler.

The
Graphic Event Ruler will only select non-note events. In addition, it will only select the type of MIDI events specified in the
Chan, View/Edit, and Controller Type controls. When you make a Ruler Time selection, ONLY THE VISIBLE events in this
time range are selected. Other MIDI events in this time range are not selected.

Graphic Events Editing Modes

There are two modes for editing graphic events.
1. Add Mode: This will add/subtract the same amount to all selected events.
2. Scale Mode: This will scale the selected events. Select one or more Graphic Events and move the mouse over one of the
events. Shift-drag vertically, and the events are scaled in a proportional fashion. Large-value events are scaled more than
small-value events. This keeps the same shape of a gesture but makes the gesture bigger or smaller.
Note Velocity Line Tool
With the Add Mode, note velocities will exactly match the slope of your drawn line.

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 With the Scale Mode, the Line Tool will shape the dynamics, but note velocities are scaled to follow the approximate
shape of your drawn line. With this mode, you can insert a velocity fade, or change the velocity of a region, while preserving the
Velocity dynamics of the music.

Edit Event Value

Move the cursor over the top half of an event. A north-south cursor appears. Click-drag vertically to scale event values.

To scale a selected group of events, Shift-click-drag vertically on one of the events in the selection.

Edit Event Time

Move the cursor over the bottom half of an event. An east-west cursor appears. Click-drag horizontally to slide the event in
time.

To slide a selected group of events, Shift-click-drag horizontally on one of the events in the selection.

Insert Events
Line Tool
With no modifier keys, the “white space” cursor is a Line Tool. Move the cursor to white space and then click-drag to draw a
line. When the mouse button is released, a series of events are inserted which follow the line slope.

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To avoid choking the MIDI stream, the maximum event density is one event per 10 ticks. Repeated events of the same value are
not inserted. Therefore, long gradual Line Tool fades have a lower density than short extreme Line Tool fades.
The Spacing controls how often the events are drawn. For example, if this is set to 30, events will be spaced apart by 30
sticks.

Spacing=1 Spacing=30
Pencil Tool
Move the cursor over white space and hold the Shift+Ctrl keys. A Pencil Tool appears. Shift+Ctrl-drag to freehand-draw a
curve. If you don’t get the curve quite right on the first pass, just keep holding the mouse button and move the mouse back-and-
forth to draw your desired freehand curve. When the mouse button is released, a series of events are inserted to follow the
freehand curve.

To avoid choking the MIDI stream, the maximum event density is one event per 10 ticks. Repeated events of the same value are
not inserted. Therefore, many freehand curves have a fairly low density.
Delete Events
Make a selection of events with the Ruler or by clicking on events. Then tap the Delete key. You can also right-click and choose
Delete Selected Events in the pop-up menu.
You can also use an eraser tool. Hold the Shift+Ctrl keys and hover the cursor over an event. When the cursor becomes an
eraser, click on an event to delete it. If multiple events are selected, all selected events will be deleted.

Right-Click Contextual Menu

The pop-up menu can be accessed by right-clicking on the notes, graphic events, or any of the rulers.

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 Undo: Duplicates the Band-in-a-Box Edit | Undo (or Ctrl+Z) action.
Delete Selected Events: Deletes any selected events (highlighted in red).
This can also be accomplished by tapping the Delete key.
Select All Notes and Graphic Events: If the “Chan” combo box is set to
“All,” this item will select ALL EVENTS on ALL CHANNELS (all
events in the track). Otherwise, ALL EVENTS are selected which match
the CURRENT MIDI CHANNEL.
Select All Note Events (Of Current Channel) (right-click on the Note Panel
or Note Ruler): If the Chan combo box is set to “All,” this item will select
ALL NOTES on ALL CHANNELS, but it will not select any non-note
events. Otherwise, ALL NOTES are selected which match the CURRENT
MIDI CHANNEL.

Select All Note Events (Of Current Channel) (right-click on the Graphic Event Panel or Graphic Event Ruler): If the “Chan”
combo box is set to “All,” this item will select ALL GRAPHIC EVENTS of the CURRENT VIEW/EDIT TYPE on ALL
CHANNELS. Otherwise, ALL GRAPHIC EVENTS of the CURRENT VIEW/EDIT TYPE are selected which match the
CURRENT MIDI CHANNEL. For instance, you could select all channel 4 modulation events, then Delete, to easily remove all
of those events from the track.
Cut: Copy selected events to the clipboard and then remove them from the track. Can also be accomplished with the menu Edit |
Cut (or Ctrl+X) action. If you wish, it is possible to cut from the Piano Roll, and then paste into the Notation window, or vice-
versa.
Copy: Copy selected events to the clipboard can also be accomplished with the menu Edit | Copy (or Ctrl+C) action. If you
wish, it is possible to copy from the Piano Roll, and then paste into the Notation window, or vice-versa.
Paste - Replace: If no events are on the clipboard, this item is dimmed. The paste occurs at the time location of your right-click.
Move the mouse cursor to the desired insert location. Right-click on the Note Panel, Graphic Event Panel, or any of the Rulers.
Then choose this item from the pop-up menu. Any previous event types in the paste range which match event types in the
clipboard are removed before the clipboard data is added to the track. If the “Chan” combo box is set to All, pasted events keep
their original (copied) MIDI channel. Otherwise, the pasted events will be re-channeled to match the “Chan” combo box.
Paste - Merge: If no events are on the clipboard, this item is dimmed. The paste occurs at the time location of your right-click.
Move the mouse cursor to the desired insert location. Right-click on the Note Panel, Graphic Event Panel, or any of the Rulers.
Then choose this item from the pop-up menu. Events from the clipboard are merged with existing data in the track. If the
“Chan” combo box is set to All, pasted events keep their original (copied) MIDI channel. Otherwise, the pasted events will be
re-channeled to match the “Chan” combo box. The feature can also be accomplished with the menu Edit | Paste (or Ctrl+V)
action (to match the Notation window, which also uses a merge style of pasting). Before using the main menu Edit | Paste (or
Ctrl+V), first make sure the insertion marker is set to your desired paste time location. This is easy to do. Just click or drag in
the Chord Ruler to place the insertion marker where you want it. Then tap Ctrl+V.
Re-Channel All Events to the Track Channel (Ch = xx): Re-channel all notes and graphic events (the entire track) to the MIDI
Output channel assigned for this track. Sometimes this can come in handy to bring some “sanity” into Piano Roll editing. For
instance, though the default Melody output channel might be channel 4, meaning that Band-in-a-Box transmits any events in the
Melody track on channel 4. The actual events in the Melody track might be channel 1, or a mixture of several channels. For
ordinary playback or note tweaking, it doesn’t matter if the event channels are “mixed up,” as long as you have the view channel
set to All. But if you wish to use Paste - Replace, the Paste - Replace function is smart enough not to “stomp on” a track’s
events that differ from the channels of the clipboard MIDI data. So if you force all events to the track channel, the Paste -
Replace function will always replace appropriately.
Re-Channel Selected Events to the Track Channel (Ch = xx): Re-channel only the selected events to the track channel.
Re-Channel Selected Events to the View Channel: When editing a multi-channel guitar track or editing an imported multi-
channel MIDI file, this command may be useful. Beware that it might initially appear confusing. For instance, one might set the
view channel to ALL, and make a selection (intending to set these events to Ch 12). Then set the view channel to 12, and of
course the selected events disappear (if the events had some other MIDI Channel). But then when you invoke “Re-Channel
Selected Events to the View Channel,” the MIDI events will reappear on the Piano Roll.
Eliminate Overlapped Notes: Overlapped notes are displayed in bold aqua color, making them easy to identify. Selecting this
menu command will remove the overlap.
Create Mute Region to mute generated accompaniment: This menu item is available in the Playable Track mode. When you
select this, a green label will show at the top, and you can extend it by dragging horizontally. When you play the song, the

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generated accompaniment in this region won’t be heard, but the green notes you have entered will be heard. If you regenerate
accompaniment, it will be outside of this is region.
Increase Velocities of Selected Notes by 1: This increases velocities of all selected notes by 1. The hotkey is + (plus).
Increase Velocities of Selected Notes by 5. This increases velocities of all selected notes by 5. The hotkey is Shift++.
Decrease Velocities of Selected Notes by 1: This decreases velocities of all selected notes by 1. The hotkey is – (minus).
Decrease Velocities of Selected Notes by 5: This decreases velocities of all selected notes by 5. This The hotkey is Shift+-.
Randomize Velocities of Selected Notes (-1 to +1): This changes velocities of all selected notes by a random number from -1 to
+1. The hotkey is ~ (tilde).
Randomize Velocities of Selected Notes (-5 to +5): This changes velocities of all selected notes by a random number from -5 to
+5. The hotkey is Shift+~.

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 Chapter 11: Working with Audio
About Band-in-a-Box Audio Files
You can open an audio file by clicking the [Open] toolbar button and selecting Open Audio (wav, wma, mp3, wmv, cda) from
the pulldown menu.

Audio files can also be opened from the File menu with the command Open Special | Open Audio (WAV, WMA, MP3, WMV,
CDA). Open an MP3/WAV/WMA or audio CD track, and play back at 1/2, 1/4, or 1/8 speed. This is great for transcribing or
analyzing audio.
If you load in an audio song (WAV file, MP3), when the song plays you can:
- Change the tempo of the audio to slow/speed up the song.
- Press Ctrl+[-] for half speed, Ctrl+[=] for full speed.
- Highlight an area in the Audio Edit window and press [Loop Selected Area]. This will loop the audio.
- Use the Audio | Set Audio Master (Base) Tempo menu item to ensure that tempo stretches are based on correct master tempo.
These features are useful as an aid for transcription.
If MySong.MGU is loaded, and a same named audio file (MySong.WMA, MySong.MP3, MySong.WAV, etc.) is present, Band-
in-a-Box will open the audio file to the Audio track. This allows third parties to make audio files with chords in them, by
making a MySong.MGU and MySong.MP3 pair of files, which will load into Band-in-a-Box yet will have the audio compressed
to take up little disk space. For example, make a teaching set of trombone files for Band-in-a-Box, with audio trombone track,
and Band-in-a-Box file with chords, all fitting in a small file size.
Equalize Tempos
If you have an audio file that wasn’t recorded at a fixed tempo, you can change so that the tempos in the audio are all at the
same. We call this an “equalization” of the tempos.
Open the Audio Edit window with the [Audio Edit] button or the Ctrl+Shift+A keys, and select the Audio Chord Wizard
mode.

Then, set bar lines for the whole audio, and press the [Equalize Tempos] button.
Tip: Press the video button on the Audio Edit window toolbar to see how you can set bar lines.

Converting Audio Channels

You can easily convert the Audio track from stereo to mono, or vice versa, with the Audio | Edit Audio | Convert Channels
(mono/stereo) menu command. When you convert the channel, you can choose the percentage of each channel.

Audio Offset
The Audio Offset feature allows you to synchronize any point of the audio file with bar 1 of the Band-in-a-Box song – usually
to sync the audio file with the rest of the song.

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Let’s say you have a home recording of a live performance of one of your songs, saved as a WAV file (or MP3/WMA). File |
Open Special | Open Audio will load the song into Band-in-a-Box.
Now, open the Audio Edit window, select either the Volume Automation or UserTracks mode, and right-click where you would
like to be considered bar 1 and select Mark this point as Bar 1 of the song from the menu.

Then, as the song is playing, use the tap tempo feature (the minus key, pressed 4 times in tempo) to set the tempo of the piece.
Your audio file will then start playing at bar 1 of the Band-in-a-Box song in sync with the audio starting at the place you have
marked as bar 1, and the bars will be in sync (approximately in sync, they will drift as the tempo of your live performance
varies.) You can put tempo changes on certain bars to keep it perfectly in sync if you want to.

Importing Audio File

Most types of audio files can be opened directly in Band-in-a-Box, but you may want to import an audio file into your Band-in-
a-Box song. A mono or stereo audio file can be imported to any track, optionally merging or replacing the existing audio. Most
popular types of audio files are supported, including WAV, WMA, MP3, WMV, and CD audio.
Choose the menu item File | Import | Import Audio (WAV, WMA, MP3, WMV) or Audio | Import Audio (WAV, WMA, MP3,
WMV). You then choose an audio file to import. You can also drag an audio file from the Explorer and drop it anywhere on the
Band-in-a-Box screen. This will open the Import Audio File dialog.
Select the destination track, the point to insert the audio file, and
the option to merge or overwrite existing audio in the destination
track.
If the audio file contains Acid Loop or Apple® Loop information,
the dialog shows an option to set the audio base tempo of the
current song to the tempo of the audio file.

Recording Audio
You can record your live vocal or instrumental performance and save it to an audio wave file along with the Band-in-a- Box
accompaniment. Make sure that you have a microphone plugged in to your sound card, or a connection from a mixer, keyboard,
or other audio device connected to the Line In jack on your sound card.
The [Record Audio] button opens the Record Audio dialog.

Set the recording properties.

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Tell your sound card (and Band-in-a-Box) what sources you would record from. You may be recording from a microphone or a
line-in plug into your sound card. In that case, you need to have those items selected in the recording properties panel for your
sound card.
Most sound cards are capable of recording from the following sources:
- Microphone - plugged in to the sound card to record vocals or live instruments.
- Line-In - from the Line-Out of a mixer or keyboard, or a guitar direct box.
- CD-ROM player - to record the audio from an audio CD.
- “What You Hear” or “Stereo Mix” is used if “rendering” the whole Band-in-a-Box song to Audio. This is an important
point to understand when using audio in Band-in-a-Box: the sound card should be capable of recording the outgoing MIDI that
is being sent from your sound card out to the speakers. When recording an audio track (vocals etc.), you’d almost never want
to record the outgoing MIDI as well or it would get mixed in with the audio track. However, when rendering your whole
composition to a single .WAV file to distribute on a CD or the Internet you always want to record the outgoing MIDI.
Technical Note: This is only true if you are using the sound card for your output MIDI driver. If you have an external MIDI device like the
Roland Sound Canvas you’d need to route the Line Out from your Sound Canvas back in to the Line-In of your sound card in order to record
(render) the MIDI.
When you press the [Set Recording Levels] button, you will see the Sound settings for your computer. This is where you select
your recording source.
The panel displayed here is for a typical Windows® 7 computer with an add-on sound card.
Different makes and models may not look exactly like the example, but the basic layout and
operation is the same. From this panel, you select the items you want to record. Let’s take the
example of recording live with a microphone.
- We select the microphone as the recording device.
- In the [Properties], we can set the microphone level and other properties such as the sample
rate and bit depth.
- Then, we test the level of the recording input for the microphone with the aid of the built-in
VU meters in Band-in-a-Box.

Set the start point for the recording.

You can record from the start of the song, somewhere in the middle, or punch in by choosing a bar and chorus # to start
recording.
Select the destination track.
Audio can be recorded to any track.
Select the destination track for recording MIDI.
If you also want to record MIDI at the same time, choose the destination track with the “Record MIDI to” option.
Select the punch-in recording option.
Punch-in audio recording allows you to punch-in record or overdub a section of audio. You can select a section to punch-in by
highlighting it in the Audio Edit window. You can also hear the existing audio part when you are overdubbing. This is
automatic.
Select the overdub underlying audio option.
If you have previously recorded audio on the track, and want to overdub (to add a harmony for example), then you should select
the “Overdub underlying Audio.” It is not essential to select it at this point, since you will get another chance at the end of the
recording. Note that the Audio track will not play during record, so you’d have to sing the harmony without hearing the original
audio part.
Set the track type (stereo/mono) for recording.
The dialog displays the mono/stereo status of the recording, but if you want to change it, press the [Audio Options] button.
Test the recording level with VU Meters.
The VU Meters will close or stay open when the dialog is exited depending on the “Leave VU Meters open” setting in the
Record Audio dialog. The VU Meters show the average strength of the signal, with a dB scale, and a clip indicator. Clipping
indicates that the signal has overloaded and will sound distorted (clipped).

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 The green area represents normal levels, while red indicates an overload.
Ideally, the sounds should remain in the green and avoid the red altogether. Unlike analog recording, where it’s
good to get a “hot” high signal, digital recordings need to absolutely avoid high levels since any overload of the
signal will result in clipping and a ruined recording.

Press the [Record] button or the R key.

Audio recording begins. If you have set the “Leave VU Meter while recording” option, then the VU Meter will open and
display during recording so you can monitor the VU meters.
Press the [Stop] toolbar button or press the Esc key.
You will then see the “Keep Take?” dialog.
Copy 1st chorus to whole song: If you’ve recorded only 1 chorus of the
song, you can choose the option to copy that first chorus of audio to the whole
song. This will fill up the whole song with the audio by repeating it as many
times as necessary. Then you’d just need to record the ending of the song.
Overdub underlying audio: At the end of recording, you receive an option
to overdub with the underlying audio. This means that both recordings will be
merged together to form a new file, with both recordings preserved.
Retain audio past last recorded: This allows you to “punch out” and
preserve the rest of a previously recorded take.
If you are happy with your recording, you should choose [OK -Keep Take] and the audio will be added to the destination track.
You can listen to the results by pressing [Play].
If you are not happy with the results, you can choose Edit | Undo Keep Audio Take and you will be back to where you were
prior to the recording. You can also choose the option to [Take Again], which reopens the Recording dialog.
Technical Details: The recorded take is recorded to a temporary wave file called TEMP_REC.WAV. This resides in the C:\bb directory or the
directory of the current song. Once you decide to keep the take, the TEMP_REC.WAV is merged with the main wave file for the program,
which is usually titled with the same name as the song (e.g., MySong.wav).

Audio Input Monitoring

This is like “Audio Thru” and it routes incoming audio to Audio Out.
To use this feature, you need to arm the track that you are recording to. Right-click on the track button in the Mixer and select
the Arm Track for Audio Input Monitoring menu item, or right-click on the VU meters and select Arm Track from the menu.
The VU meters right-click menu has options to select
an audio input. For example, if your audio interface
has two inputs (right/left) and you want to record from
a microphone plugged into the right input, select the
Mono Right to Stereo menu item.
When the track is armed, blue borders are drawn around the VU meters. You can now monitor audio input along with
the effects that you select on that track. For example, if you want to add a tremolo effect to your recording, right-click on the
first slot in the Mixer, select Choose Plugin from the menu, and select a tremolo effect. Now, when you sing or play an
instrument though the microphone, you will see it on the VU meters and you will hear it along with the tremolo effect.

Generating Synthetic Vocal

Your Melody or Soloist track with lyrics can be rendered to a vocal audio track by sending it to the third-party vocal synthesizer
Sinsy.
To access this feature, you should first enter melodies and lyrics to the Melody or Soloist track. If no Lyrics are present, you can
still generate a vocal synth using the syllable of your choice (la la la etc.).
You can launch the Vocal Synth generation by one of the followings.
- Press the [Big Lyrics] button on the main screen toolbar and select either of the Vocal Synth menu items.
- Press the [Vocal Synth] button on the Notation window toolbar and select either of the Vocal Synth menu items.
- Go to menu Edit | Lyrics | Vocal Synth.
With the manual mode, Band-in-a-Box creates a Sound.XML file, which you need to upload to the Sinsy server. When the Sinsy
has generated an audio file with a vocal synth, import it to Band-in-a-Box.

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Normally, you would use the auto mode, which does this process automatically for you. When you choose an auto mode, the
Generate Synthetic Vocal dialog will open.
Language: The choice is English or Japanese. Select English unless
your lyrics are entered in Japanese.
Vocalist: Choose one of the female or male vocalists. If the
language is set to English, you can only select an English singer.
Gender Parameters: You can adjust the gender of the voice in a
range from -0.8 to +0.8. Higher values are more masculine. The
default is 0.55.
Vibrato Intensity: This controls the amount of vibrato in the voice.
The range is from 0 to 2. The default is 1.
Pitch Shifting: This setting will shift pitch in semitones. The range is from -24 to +24. A setting of -12 would be down one
octave. The default is 0.
For Melody notes with no lyrics use: If the track does not include lyrics, you can enter a syllable (e.g., la) to use for notes with
no lyrics. (Note: If you select a Japanese vocalist, you need to enter a Japanese syllable.)
When you press [OK], your song will be sent automatically to the Sinsy server and will be rendered to a vocal synth. This may
take a few minutes. When the vocal synth has been generated, you can hear it by pressing the [Play] toolbar button.

Editing Audio - Audio Edit Window

The Audio Edit window shows a digital waveform and allows you to select, preview, or edit audio data on any track. You
can open the window with the toolbar button, the Audio | Audio Edit Window menu item, or the Ctrl+Shift+A keys.
Note: When you edit audio data, it will be saved in a WAV file, not in an MGU/SGU file. For example, if you edit the Audio track in a song
called MySong.MGU, the Audio track will be saved in MySong.WAV. For the tracks other than the Audio track, the track names will be added
to the WAV files, e.g., MySong Melody.WAV, MySong Bass.WAV, MySong #1.WAV (for the Utility#1 track), etc.

The window displays stereo WAV files as 2 separate tracks.

The numbered scale at the top of the window indicates bars and beats, with a full height vertical division for each bar and a short
vertical line for each beat or quarter note. Bars with part markers also include the A or B part marker letter with the bar number
(1a, 9b).
Note the decibel (dB) scale down the right side of the window.
To select a region of the Audio Edit window, you can Shift+click on the end point to easily select a large area.
- Click on the starting bar.
- Shift+click on the ending bar.
Following hotkeys are available.
- Home moves the cursor to the beginning of a track.
- End moves the cursor to the end of a track.
- Shift+Home moves the left cursor of the selected region to the beginning of a track. If no region is selected, this will select a
region from the cursor to the beginning of a track.
- Shift+End moves the right cursor to the end of a track. If no region is selected, this will select a region from the cursor to the
end of a track.
- Ctrl+A selects the whole track.
- Ctrl+C copies the selected region of audio to the clipboard.
- Ctrl+X cuts the selected region of audio.
- Ctrl+V pastes the copied audio to the current location and overwrites the existing audio.

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- Ctrl+Shift+V pastes the copied audio and merges it with the existing audio instead of overwriting it.
- Delete erases the selected region of audio.
- Shift+Delete deletes the selected region of audio.
The window has three modes: Volume Automation, Audio Chord Wizard, and UserTracks. The Volume
Automation mode allows fine volume control of any track for fades, crescendos, mutes, etc. When you select the Audio Chord
Wizard or UserTracks mode, the markers will be visible and editable. The Audio Chord Wizard mode shows bar line markers
for making a tempo map, and the User Track mode shows bar/beat markers for defining rules in your UserTrack.
The [-] button zooms out horizontally to display a larger area of the audio. Zoom focus will be on audio cursor. You can also
zoom with the mouse wheel, which focuses on the mouse cursor.
The [+] button zooms in horizontally to display a smaller area of the audio. Zoom focus will be on audio cursor. You can also
zoom with the mouse wheel, which focuses on the mouse cursor.
The [Whole Track] button zooms out as far as possible, showing the entire audio track.
The [Sample] button zooms down to the finest level possible, and at these levels you will see interpolation between the sample
points. This is bandlimited interpolation which represents the waveform as it will be heard in reality once converted from digital
to analog.
[+] increases the height of the waveform display, and [-] decreases the height of the display.
The Snap setting allows you to select audio by snapping to a 16th note (or a triplet in Swing styles). A section of the wave file
can be selected by clicking and dragging the mouse over an area of the wave file. To expand or reduce the selection, hold down
the Shift key while clicking on the desired new boundary.
The [Loop Selected Area] button plays the selected area, and then stops. The other instruments are all muted; you just hear the
audio.
The [Select Whole] button selects the whole track, useful for applying one of the built-in audio plug-ins.
The [Edit] button lets you access various editing features. They will apply to the highlighted region of audio, but if no region is
highlighted, then they will apply to the entire track.
Silence - This will erase the audio. The hotkey is Delete.
Amplify - This will increase or decrease the volume of the audio by a chosen number of decibels. A
positive value will make the audio louder, or a negative value will make the audio quieter.
Normalize - This will increase or decrease the volume of the audio in order to make the loudest
point match the chosen decibel level. For example, if you choose -6 decibels and the loudest point
in your audio is -8 decibels, then the audio will be increased by +2 decibels.
Fade In - This will gradually change the volume of the audio. The audio will begin silent, and then
gradually increase to full volume at the end. You can change the type of amplification curve in the
Audio Edit Settings dialog.
Fade Out - This will gradually change the volume of the audio. The audio will begin at full volume,
and then gradually decrease to silence at the end. You can change the type of amplification curve in
the Audio Edit Settings dialog.
Cut - This will cut the audio. The hotkey is Ctrl+X.
Copy - This will copy the audio to the clipboard. The hotkey is Ctrl+C.
Paste - This will paste the copied audio to the current location and replace the existing audio.
Paste (Mix) - This will mix the copied audio with the existing audio instead of overwriting it. You
will be given the option to set the percentage of the existing audio to keep and the pasted audio to
mix in. The hotkey is Ctrl+Shift+V.

Paste (Insert) - This will insert the audio from the clipboard to the current location, instead of overwriting the existing audio.
The audio to the right of the insertion point will be shifted to make room for the new audio.
Delete - This will delete the audio. The hotkey is Shift+Delete.
Insert Silence - This will insert silence at the cursor. The duration of the silence inserted will be equal to the duration of the
selected region.
Convert Channels - If the audio is stereo, this will convert it to mono. If it’s mono, this will convert it to stereo. You will be
given the option to set the percentage of the left and right channels to include.
Transpose - This will transpose the audio by a specified number of cents.
Harmonize - This will add harmonies to the audio.
Transcribe - This will transcribe the audio as MIDI data and write it into the same track. Note that the audio in the source track
should be monophonic (e.g., vocal, saxophone).

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Fix Tuning - This will automatically correct the tuning according to the key of your song. For example, in the key of C, if a C#
is detected then it will be transposed down to C or up to D depending on which one is closer.
Fix “Sour” Notes - This will automatically correct notes in polyphonic audio. When chord is played with multiple notes at once,
this feature can fix certain notes within that chord so that the note won’t clash with the chord progression or other tracks. In the
dialog, you can select one of the rules for the auto-fix.

Rules: This defines the rules for the auto-fix. You can see
the description for each rule in the above area.
Process MIDI: If this option is enabled, any MIDI note on
the track will be processes as well. Notes within the
selected region will be changed according to the chosen
rule.
Sensitivity Level: Increasing the sensitivity level will
cause weaker notes to be detected. Decreasing it will cause
weaker notes to be ignored and unaffected by the auto-fix.
Transient Level: Increasing the transient level will make
transients (e.g., beats like plucking sounds or drum hits)
louder. Decreasing it will make transients quieter.
Smoothing ms: This is the length of time that notes will take to change in milliseconds. Increase this for instruments that sound
better with slower bending between notes like vocals or pedal steel. Decrease for rigid sounding instruments like piano.
Pitch Correction: This will correct the tuning of notes. For example, a guitar might have one string out of tune, and notes
played on that string will be pitch corrected.
Extract Stems - This will extract stems from the selected region. Individual instruments such as bass, drums, and vocals will be
extracted onto their own separate Utility tracks. This feature requires a stem splitter application to be installed.
Generate - This allows you to generate RealTracks.
Settings - This allows you to customize the appearance of the window.
The wheel button will open the Audio Edit Settings dialog, which allows you to customize the appearance of the window.
Draw interpolation: If this is enabled, the
curved lines will be drawn between sample
points, representing real sound.
Interpolation quality: This is the accuracy
of the interpolation drawing.
Default fade type: Choose the type of curve
used for the automatic/manual cross-fading.
“S-Curve” is good for most situations and is
the best for very short fade durations since it
will not introduce a noise.
Auto cross-fade regions: When a region of
audio is being modified or replaced, the
beginning and ending of the region will be
cross-faded with the existing audio to make a
smooth transition. This applies to Cut, Paste,
Silence, Amplify, and Normalize.
Default duration in samples for cross-fades: This is the number of samples that will be used for audio cross-fading. This
duration will be shortened automatically when processing very short regions of audio.
Synchronize insert/delete edits with MIDI on track: If this is enabled, then when inserting or deleting regions of audio, MIDI
on the same track will be shifted accordingly to keep the MIDI and audio in sync.
Mouse wheel zooms to edit cursor instead of mouse pointer: If this is enabled, the mouse wheel will zoom to the edit cursor
instead of zooming to the mouse cursor.
Center screen to edit cursor when zooming: If this is enabled, the edit cursor will scroll to the center of the window when
zooming with the mouse wheel. This is only applicable if “Mouse wheel zooms to edit cursor instead of mouse pointer” is
enabled.

Volume Automation
Node-based volume automation allows fine volume control of any track for fades, crescendos, mutes, etc.

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We’ve created over 50 original songs sung by a variety of very talented singers in a variety of genres. They can be played in
Band-in-a-Box and are great for experimenting with different styles. The songs are saved in the following folders.
C:\bb\Songs and Lessons\Artist Performance Sets\Artist Performance Set 11 - Songs with Vocals volume 1
C:\bb\Songs and Lessons\Artist Performance Sets\Artist Performance Set 12 - Songs with Vocals volume 2
Let’s load a song called “Emmaline 100 country male C _goldrsh.MGU” from the C:\bb\Songs and Lessons\Artist Performance
Sets\Artist Performance Set 12 - Songs with Vocals volume 2 folder. This song has great leading and background vocals, but
when you play the song, you may notice that the background vocal is too loud.
When you open the Audio Edit window and show the background vocal track, there is an
audio section in bars 21-27, and you may notice that the first half section is a bit louder than
the second half. You could use the volume slider in the Mixer, but that would decrease the
volume for both sections. There is a better way to adjust the volume and to give you more
control.

First, press the volume automation mode button on the window’s toolbar.
This will show blue lines on the track. The waveform is still visible but it’s darker so that we can
focus on the blue lines right now.

You can click anywhere on the blue line to add a node (a small blue dot), which acts as an anchor.

If you add more nodes and then move some of them up or down, the blue line will be drawn between
nodes that you’ve entered. And the position of the blue line at any given point determines the amount
in decibels that the audio is increased or decreased at that point. When you play the song, the volume
of the background vocal is essentially balanced out between two sections.
You could have the background vocal start off quieter and have it gradually become louder.

Analyzing Chords in Audio - Audio Chord Wizard

The Audio Chord Wizard can be accessed from the [Audio Chord Wizard] toolbar button or the menu Audio | Audio
Chord Wizard.
Alternatively, you can press the [Audio Edit] button or the Ctrl+Shift+A keys, and when the Audio Edit
window opens, press the [ACW] mode button on its toolbar.

The first task is to locate bar lines in the audio so that the Audio Chord Wizard can detect chords accurately and the audio will
play in sync with the Band-in-a-Box song.
You can add bar lines with the [Add Bar Line] button or with the L key on your keyboard. A bar line will be placed at the
audio edit cursor or at the playback cursor if the song is currently playing.
When you start entering bar lines, the program automatically sets the tempo of the song to the tempo of the first bar of the audio.

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Once the tempo of the first bar is set, the program automatically moves the location of the first bar of audio over so that the
visual space of the count-in bars is visible.

After you’ve added the bar lines, if you adjust the first or second bar and the tempo of the first bar changes accordingly, the
program automatically changes the tempo of the song to match.

The [Add/Delete Bar Lines] button menu has options to add bar lines based on your song structure or tempo. You can delete all
of the existing bar lines or only the ones within the highlighted region.

If Auto Marking is enabled, then Band-in-a-Box will automatically add and arrange bar lines based on the bar lines you have
added manually. The “auto” bar lines will show in light blue, and the “user” bar lines will show in purple. You can change these
colors in the Audio Edit Settings dialog if you want.

If Auto Analysis is enabled, then Band-in-a-Box will re-analyze the chords in the audio whenever you add or move a bar line,
or when you edit the audio data. Keep this setting disabled if you prefer to set all bar lines first (i.e., establishing tempo), and
then analyze the chords when you are done.
Bar lines can be moved with the mouse. Just click and drag the thumb control at the bottom. If you move an “auto” bar line, it
will become a “user” bar line.
You can also right-click on the thumb control to get a context menu with options to switch a marker
type (“user” or “auto”), delete the bar line, or set the time signature for the bar. The menu also
shows you the tempo of the bar, based on the time signature of the bar and the position of the next
bar line.

Use the [Analyze] button to analyze the chords in the audio. The chords detected in the audio will be written into the Chord
Sheet. You don’t need to do this if you have “Auto Analysis” enabled, but you might want to if you have erased or made
changes to the chords in the Chord Sheet.
When you add or move bar lines, Band-in-a-Box will automatically make a tempo map, so your song is in sync with the audio.
Any changes you make in the Audio Chord Wizard mode are undo-able. This was previously not possible with the standalone
Audio Chord Wizard.
When you open the Chord Sheet, you will see the Audio Chord Wizard has entered the chords and the tempo map.

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If Transcribe MIDI to Track is checked, the wizard will send the transcribed MIDI notes to the track for further analysis by
the user (via Piano Roll or Notation window). Note that this is a “snapshot” view every 8th note of the pitches present, not an
attempt at polyphonic transcription.
The [Equalize Tempos] button will remove tempo changes by stretching regions of audio so that the tempos are all equal.
The wheel button opens the dialog for customizing the chord analysis.
Song Key: Choose the key in which to look for chords. For
example, if the song key is set to G major, the wizard will
search for chords in the key of G major. These G major chords
are further specified by the Chord Preset.
Chord Preset: Choose which set of chords to look for, from
the chosen key.
Pre-tune audio: Auto-tune the track to a reference of A440
before performing the chord analysis. This is useful for songs
that were recorded slightly out of tune.
Minimum chord duration 1 bar: This forces the wizard to choose only 1 chord per bar (i.e., no half-bar chords).

Harmonizing Audio
The audio harmonies include following features.
- Harmonizing the audio with up to 4 voices.
- Correcting out-of-tune notes.
- Transcribing the audio to notation.
First, open an audio file (WAV/WMA/MP3/M4A) or a Band-in-a-Box song file with audio. Then, go to the menu Audio or
Harmony, and select Audio Harmonies, Pitch Tracking, Fix Tuning. This will open the Audio Edit window and the Audio
Harmony dialog.
Tip: If the Audio Edit window is already open, press the [Edit] button on its toolbar and select Harmonize to open the Audio Harmony dialog.

Choose one of the 3 harmonizing modes.

- The “Chords” mode will harmonize the audio based on the chords in your song. Choose a type of harmony from the
“Harmony type” option. Choose either the intelligent mode, which allows you to select the number of voices and other
options, or one of the harmony presets. When you select the intelligent mode, you can also use the “Melody Double” option to
make one of the harmony voices double the original melody. For the 2-part harmony, you can make the harmony voice 3rds or

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 6ths above/below the original melody depending on the “Voice above” setting or a combination of 3rds and 6ths with the
“Duet Voicing” setting.
- The “MIDI” mode will add voices to the audio, based on MIDI notes in the source track. You can choose the number of voices
(up to 4 voices).
- The “Fix Tuning” mode will analyze the source track and corrects out-of-tune notes in the selected region according to the key
of your song.
Source track is the track that the selected harmonizing mode will apply to.
If Output to separate tracks is unchecked, harmony voices will be written into the source track and merged with the existing
audio in that track. You can also set the volume and stereo balance for each harmony voice. If you check this option, harmony
voices will be written into other tracks that you select with the Destination track option. After harmony voices are generated,
you can use the Mixer to control volume, panning, reverb, and tone, or add effects for each voice.
You can enable the Transcribe option for the source track and/or harmony voices. Note that the audio in the source track should
be monophonic (e.g., vocal, saxophone).

Applying Audio Plugins

When you have recorded audio, you’d likely want to apply some type of effect to the audio. The usual one is reverb. Choose the
audio plug-in that you want from the Audio | Plugin menu. For reverb, choose the Reverb option. You will then see a plug-in
with its own settings, specific to the type of plugins.
Inside the plug-in, you can preview the plug-in effect, and if you like it you can then proceed with processing the entire .WAV
file. You can undo the effects of any plug-in by choosing Edit | Undo.
VST/DX Plugins for Individual Tracks
VST and DX audio effects can be applied to individual tracks. The control of effects plugins can be managed from the Mixer, on
the [Plugins] tab.

MIDI tracks have 4 slots. The first slot can take a synthesizer (e.g., Sforzando, Coyote GM, Garritan Aria, and HyperCanvas)
and the other 3 can take audio effects (e.g., reverb, compression etc.).
Audio tracks (RealTracks, the Audio track, or Utility tracks) have 4 slots. There is no synthesizer slot, so they have 4 for audio.
Click on a plugin name, and use the menu to choose a plugin, load or save a preset or a group of plugins, change plugins
settings, and do more.

Reading the Audio and MIDI Tracks into Other Programs

If you have a Band-in-a-Box song that has an audio track as well, and want to export that song to a sequencer like PowerTracks
Pro Audio, follow these steps:
- For a song called MYSONG.MGU, the associated .WAV file (audio track) will be called MYSONG.WAV.
- You should make a MIDI file (by pressing the .MID button). Save the .MID in the same folder as the song. Then your
sequencer can read the entire file by doing the following inside your sequencer:
- Open the MIDI file.
- Import the .WAV file track into the sequence.
Tip: PowerTracks Pro Audio recognizes that this is a Band-in-a-Box file with a wave file associated with it, and will offer to read them both in.
In earlier versions of PowerTracks Pro and other sequencers you need to follow the steps above.

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 Chapter 12: Wizards, Tutors, and Fun
Video Window
You can load a video that you have already downloaded from YouTube or elsewhere into Band-in-a-Box Video Window. The
audio is extracted from the video to the Audio track.
To load and play a video, select the Open File menu item from the [Open] toolbar button and choose a video
file (mp4/wmv/avi).

Alternatively, click on the [Video] toolbar button and select Video Player. Then, when the Video Window
opens, click on the [Open] button on its toolbar and select a video file.

Play, Stop or Move to a position in the video using the Transport toolbar.
As the song plays, you can slow down the video, and the audio will slow down and stay in sync.
The quality of the audio at slower tempos is great - better than most video player programs. The video slowdown range is 50-
100%. If you want slower than that, you can select values as low as 12%, which is an 8X slowdown (1 second would take 8
seconds), and still has good quality. Note: When set to values lower than 50%, the Video Window is disabled, but the audio
continues at the extreme slow tempo. This is a great tool for transcription. You can select a range in the Chord Sheet window
and use Transport - [Loop] button to loop a section of the video at a low tempo for example.
You can size the window by dragging the corner.
There is a [Full] button to make the video full screen, and the Esc key will go out of the full screen mode.
The [Settings] button will open the Video Settings dialog which allows you to adjust the audio and video playback time.
Offset in MS: This will adjust the video playback in milliseconds.
A positive value will make the video play later while a negative
value will make it play earlier.
Sync method: When the video and the audio are out of sync.
“Video to main program” will change the video position. “Main
program to video” will change the audio position which may cause
a noise. “Do not sync” will never attempt to re-sync.
Minimum sync interval: This allows you to set a minimum number of seconds between attempts to re-sync the video and the
audio.
Sync drift tolerance: This allows you to set a maximum drift time in milliseconds between the video and the audio. If they are
out of sync less than this value, then the program will not try to re-sync.

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”Woodshed” Tempo Feature
When practicing (or “woodshedding”) a tune, it is useful for the tempo to speed up every time the section loops or the song
restarts from the beginning.
Press the [Practice] toolbar button and select Woodshed (increasing) Tempo from the pulldown menu. This will open
the Tempo Woodshedding dialog.
For example, if you set the “Woodshed tempo” value to 5 in this dialog, the tempo will speed up by 5 each time the song (or a
highlighted section) loops to the beginning. The idea is that you start off with a slow tempo, playing the part perfectly, and keep
this up as the song tempo increases.

When you press Stop, the tempo reverts to the original tempo.
There are 4 modes to the woodshed tempo field.
1. “Up only,” which is getting faster each loop “forever,” well until tempo = 500, which is BB’s maximum tempo.
2. An “up then down” mode that goes up by [a settable increment] up to [a settable maximum] and then starts going down by
the increment back to the original where it restarts. For example, a song with a tempo of 140, if you set the tempo to increase
by 5, to a maximum increase of 100, the song will go from 140,145,150 etc. to 240, then go to 235,230… back to 140 and
cycle again.
3. An “Up then Reset” mode, that goes up in increments up to the settable maximum, then resets to the original and starts
again. For example, a song with a tempo of 140, if you set the tempo to increase by 5, to a maximum increase of 100, the
song will go from 140,145,150 etc. to 240, then go to 140 and start again.
4. An “Up and stay at Max” mode that goes up until the settable maximum and stays there.
Modes 2 and 3 are analogous to a “treadmill workout,” with programmed changes in speed.

MIDI Chord Wizard – Interpret Chords from MIDI File

Many MIDI files lack chord symbols, making them difficult to play along with by ear. Now you can open any MIDI file in
Band-in-a-Box, and Band-in-a-Box will automatically figure out the chords of the song for you. The chords are written onto the
Band-in-a-Box Chord Sheet like any other song. You can also read tracks into the Melody and Soloist tracks.
Importing Chords
You can import the chords from a MIDI file. To do this, first blank the Chord Sheet by choosing File | New. Then select the
menu item File | Import | Import Chords from MIDI file or press the Ctrl+Alt+I keys to launch the Interpret Chords from
MIDI file dialog.
Press the [Open (Change)] button to select the MIDI file that you’d like to import.
Once you’ve selected the file, you can press the [INTERPRET CHORDS NOW] button. When you do that, the chords will be
interpreted from the MIDI file, and written onto the Chord Sheet. Prior to pressing the [INTERPRET CHORDS NOW] button,
you might want to make some custom settings.
When you load in the MIDI file, Band-in-a-Box interprets many things from the MIDI file for you automatically. Normally
you’d want this to happen, but if you’d prefer to make the settings yourself, you can set the Auto Interpret settings from MIDI
file to false.
Once you have loaded in the MIDI file, and assuming that you have the “Auto Interpret” set to true, you will see that the dialog
displays the settings that the Chord Wizard has found for the key signature, and channels used for the song.
Let’s work with an example song called violet.MID. This should be included in the C:\bb\Documentation\Tutorials folder.
- Start with a blank worksheet by choosing File | New.
- Open the MIDI Chord Wizard dialog by choosing File | Import | Import Chords from MIDI File (MIDI Chord Wizard).

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Press the [Open (Change)] button to select the MIDI file, and then choose the file that you’d like to import. In this case, it is
C:\bb\Documentation\Tutorials\violet.MID.
Once you load in the MIDI file, you will see that the Chord Wizard has analyzed it and made these determinations.
It has automatically determined that the violet.MID file
- has 2 bars of lead-in.
- has 103 bars of chords.
- is in the key of F with a 4/4 time signature, and a tempo of 120.
- has the Bass part on channel 2.
- has the chording (comping) parts on channels 3, 6 and 7.
- has the Melody on Channel 4.
- has no other parts like the Melody to put on the Soloist track.
Now, after loading in the MIDI files, you’d normally have a look at these settings above, to see if they seem reasonable for your
MIDI file. If not, you can change the settings. For example, if you knew that the Melody channel was on channel 3, you could
override the Chord Wizard settings.
Once you have done that, you should choose one of the Presets, to
quickly put the settings to the type of song that we are trying to interpret.

Chord Options: When you choose one of these presets, it makes a number of settings in the Chord Options section of the
dialog. You can override them in this dialog.

Chord Resolution: This is the minimum number of beats for a chord. For
example, if you set it to “2 beats” then the Chord Wizard will never attempt
to come up with different chords that are only a beat apart. If you have a
song that has a short section that does include chords every beat, you can
redo that section of the song with a “1 beat” resolution. (Default = 2 beats)
Include Slash Chords: If set, the Chord Wizard will include “slash chords”
like F7/A or Cm/G.

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Bass Part is mainly: You can set this to “Root,” “Root-3-5,” or “Walking Bass.” If you choose “Root,” the chord Wizard will
assume that any bass note is the root of the chord. Choosing “Root-3-5” will cause the Chord Wizard to assume that the bass
pattern is mainly on the root, 3rd and 5th of the chord. If you choose “Walking bass,” it will assume that the bass notes can be
changing and can include many notes beside the root. Setting the Walking bass line will likely result in fewer chords overall
than setting the “Root only” option.
Allow Sus Chords / Allow 7th chords / Allow chords with no thirds: The setting for “Allow Sus chords” determines if chords
like Csus or Bbsus7 will be included. The “Allow 7th chords” specifies if 7th chords like C7 or Bbm7 would be allowed. Simple
Rock songs might not have 7th chords or Sus chords. Allowing chords with no thirds should be set in a hard rock song, or
similar song with “power chords” that might not contain the 3rd of the chords.
Lowest bass note is delayed: Usually, a bass player plays the root of the chord at or near the time when the chord changes. But
in solo piano playing or some bass styles, the bass doesn’t state the root until later on, and this setting should be set to “delayed”
in a solo piano style of this type.
Method: Set the primary style of the song to Jazz or Pop/Country from the combo box.
Using the Chord Options Presets to quickly make settings
For the song violet.MID,” we know that this is a jazz swing type of song, so we press the preset called “Jazz Standard.” By
doing this, we see that the chord options have then been set to Chord Resolution of 2 beats, no slash chords, walking bass, sus
chords, 7th chords, and jazz lead sheet. These settings look OK for our jazz song, if we wanted to customize it (e.g., to allow
slash chords) we could do it at this point.
So, to recap, using the Chord Wizard is a 3-step process.
1. We’ve loaded in the song violet.MID.
2. Pressing the preset button called [Jazz Standard], we then looked at the Chord Options settings for the various channels and
they looked OK, so we didn’t make any changes.
3. We then press [INTERPRET CHORDS NOW]. This gets the Chord Wizard to interpret the chords and write them onto the
Chord Sheet.
Once we’ve pressed the [INTERPRET CHORDS NOW] button, we can see the results, by looking at the Chord Sheet. Here
are the chords that were interpreted.

So that we can see how well the Chord Wizard did, we can compare it to the “correct chords” of the song, input by a musician
listening to the song.

As you can see, by comparing the two sets of chords, the Chord Wizard got almost all of the chords correct in this example. The
Chord Wizard purposely avoids chords like “C13.” It will put a simpler “C7” instead, since this is more like a typical lead sheet.
If you’ve read in the entire MIDI file, you have 103 bars of chords on the Chord Sheet. This actually contains 3 choruses of the
song. You might want to reduce that to a single chorus by setting the chorus end of the song to bar 36 and then erasing the
excess bars (after bar 36) by choosing Edit | Erase.
Examining the song that has been interpreted by the Chord Wizard.
You will notice that the title (Violet Song), key (F), and tempo (120) have been set to the values found in the file. Part markers
are not set; the Chord Wizard doesn’t try to guess where part markers might be occurring. You need to put the part markers in
yourself. You also need to choose the style to use (a jazz swing style in this case). If you examine the Melody track (by opening
the Notation window and right-clicking on some notes or pressing the Event List (#) button), you will notice that the Melody
track contains notes from Channel 4, which is what we specified in the Chord Wizard dialog.

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Importing Part of a MIDI File (or re-doing a section of the Chord Sheet)

Normally, we’d want to import an entire MIDI file worth of chords, but if you want to import some bars, then deselect the
Import complete song checkbox, and specify where to start in the MIDI file (i.e., # of lead-in bars in MIDI file), what bar to
start at in Band-in-a-Box (Insert to BB starting at bar #), and the number of bars to import (How Many Bars to import?).
Other Settings for the MIDI Chord Wizard
OK to use PG Music Chord names from MIDI File: Band-in-a-Box and PowerTracks Pro Audio songs contain special events
that write the exact chord names into the MIDI file. So, if the Chord Wizard sees these events, it will use them instead of
interpreting the chords, since they are likely to be completely accurate. If you prefer to ignore these chord events, disable this
option.
Write Chord Summary Notes to Soloist track: This setting is only used for diagnostic or special purposes. When set, the
Soloist track will contain a special track that has a chord written every 2 beats (or whatever the setting for chord resolution is)
that contains every note found for the chord. This shows you the type of logic that the Chord Wizard is basing its decisions on.
If you encounter a song that gives incorrect results for the chords, you can try this setting and then examine the Soloist track to
see the actual notes of the chords. Chord-stepping through the track (using [Ins] and [Del] on the Numpad) allows you to
quickly hear the chords.
Include continuous controllers and pitch bend / Include Patch Changes / Include Lyrics: You can optionally include
controllers, pitch bend, patch changes, and lyrics from the MIDI file.
Include notes early by: Use this setting to allow for playing in the original MIDI file that is pushed ahead of the beat. At the
Band-in-a-Box resolution of 120 PPQ, a setting of 15 equals a 32nd note (i.e., 1/8th of a quarter note).

Practice Window
The Practice Window allows convenient “1-click” access to many Band-in-a-Box features that help you with practicing. These
include the Ear Training dialog, games (Pitch Invasion etc.), Metronome, CopyMe, Sight Reading, 101 Riffs series, and more.
To launch the Practice Window, press the [Practice] button on the toolbar and choose Practice Central from the
pulldown menu. You can also go to menu Window | Practice Window or use hotkeys Alt+Shift+L.

There are several purposes for the Practice Window:

- Quick access to your favorite/preferred “practice” folders, so that you can setup load in songs without having to navigate
dialogs.
- One-click access to many of the education-related features of Band-in-a-Box (playalong soloing, ear training games, etc.).
- Handy buttons for on-screen transposition for non-concert instruments and for playing at fractions of the original tempo.
- One button access to many of the Band-in-a-Box add-ons “101 Riffs” series and “Master Solos.” (Note: N/A indicates other
Band-in-a-Box add-ons that are available, but not installed on your computer.)
- One button access to many other PG Music educational programs and lessons. Most of these items are “add-on” products,
available separately, and are not included in the Band-in-a-Box program. If you have these items installed to your hard drive,
the Practice Window will find them if they are installed them to the default directories, and if not, you will be able to point the
program to the location of the program, which will be remembered in future sessions.
The [Info/Download Now] button opens a page with more information about each of the stand-alone programs and add-ons
referred to in this dialog. Internet access is required.
For items that you don’t have, you can choose to display or not display them on-screen using the Show add-ons if N/A setting.

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Press the [Update] button if you have just installed an add-on or a program. This will allow you to access it from the Practice
Window.
More information about all of the add-on programs can be found at www.pgmusic.com/practice.htm
Making and Using Practice Folders
If you are preparing for a performance or a jam session with friends, you likely have a list of songs that you are working on.
Let’s say they are in a folder called C:\Bob’s Tunes.
Click on the folder icon. You will then see a menu that lists a Manage Folders submenu, allowing you to create/remove
Practice Folders.
This is list of all Practice Folders defined (there likely won’t be any to start with, so you
can add them using the Manage Folders menu command). Add a folder that you use
frequently to this list.

After the list of Practice Folders, you see a list of “Favorite Folders” – these are the folders that you have
visited recently.
Once you have selected a folder, you then press the [Songs] button, and you will see a pop-up menu of the
file names for that folder, with the current song having a check mark. Load in a song by choosing the menu
item.

Ear Training Tutor

Ear training is an important exercise for all musicians. Now you can practice your ear training with help from Band-in-a-Box. In
addition to the common interval exercises (perfect 4th, minor 2nd, etc.), learning to “play-by-ear” for jazz and pop music is
further enhanced by ear training exercises to recognize common chord types (e.g., Major, Minor, Dominant, etc.).
For example, Band-in-a-Box will play a chord and you will have to identify the correct root and chord type. Your score can be
tracked, allowing you to monitor your progress. Clicking on the various chord types lets you instantly hear the differences
between various chords. Other options include “types of roots and chords to use,” and “voicing types” (open, closed, etc.) –
allowing you to customize the ear training exercises for beginner through to advanced. Interval recognition is also customizable
from beginner to advanced, with such options as instrument type, octave range, up/down intervals and more.
Press the [Practice] toolbar button and select Ear Training from the pulldown menu to launch the Ear Training
Window. Alternatively, press Ctrl+Shift+J or go to menu Window | Ear Training.
There are 2 modules in the Ear Training Window.
1. The Interval Tutor plays note intervals for you to identify.
2. The Chord Tutor plays chords (root + extension) for you to identify.
Interval Tutor
Click on the [Interval Tutor] button to launch the Interval Tutor module.

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Click on the intervals to hear them. For example, click on “Minor 3” to hear a minor 3rd interval.
Set the interval types to guess. Pressing the [Easy] button will set it to the easiest (within one octave, second note is always
higher, etc.).
Start the game by pressing the [Guess Interval] button.
With the First Note and Second Note areas, you can control the starting note and the second note in the dialog.
Once the game starts, click on the interval that you think is being played.
Chord Tutor
Click on the [Chord Tutor] button to enter the Chord Tutor module.

Press the [Play Tonic] button to familiarize yourself with the root note of the scale as a reference point.
- Click on any of the other note names to hear that root.
- Click on any of the chord extensions to hear that sound.
Guessing the root
You can test yourself on roots only or root AND extension. Press [Guess a New Root] and you will hear a root played.
Press the [Replay Root] button to hear the root-to-guess replayed. If you need help, press [Play Tonic – C] to hear the root
again.
When you think you know the root, press the root name on the list of note names at the left.
If you guess incorrectly, you will see a message that says, “Wrong Root.” You will then hear the note that you guessed playing,
followed by the root-to-guess note again.
If you guess correctly, you will see a confirmation of that, and can play again.
Press the [Stop] button to stop the game.
Guessing the Root and the Extensions
The [Guess a New Chord] game works in the same way as the Root game, except that here you are guessing chord extensions.
The root is always whatever the setting is at the left. Click on the extension to guess, and [Replay Chord] button to hear the
chord again.
In the [Guess Chord and Root] mode, you need to guess both the Root and the Extension. You can guess them in any order.
Click on the root, and when you get it correct you can move on to the extension.
Types of Roots to Include: For the Roots, you can choose which types of roots to include. This can be any of the 12 semitones,
or just the scale tones, or just the 1-4-5 of the scale.
Extension to Include: For the extensions, you can include all of the extensions listed in the dialog, or just the subset that are
common extensions.
Types of Voicings to Include: The chord extension will be played using the voicing type that you specify in the voicing types
combo box. These can be open, closed, or root position voicings. This setting also applies to the voicing used when you are
previewing a chord.

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Show notes on piano during guessing: If you were an advanced musician, seeing the notes on the piano during the guessing
game would be “cheating,” since you’d probably quickly recognize the chord. However, a beginner might benefit from seeing
the notes played on the piano screen. If this “Show notes on piano during guessing” option is selected, these chords will play on
the small piano located on the main program screen.
The score is displayed on the window. You can reset these results to zero by pressing the [Reset] button.

Ear Training Games

Learning is best when it’s fun, so we’ve included these exciting games in the Band-in-a-Box Ear Training module for fun times
in “the woodshed.”
The programs are available via buttons in the ear training dialog, or by dedicated buttons on the toolbar.
Pitch Invasion
Pitch Invasion helps to develop perfect pitch as you shoot down “alien” notes invading from above. You hear the note sound
and click on the on-screen piano/MIDI or QWERTY keyboard to shoot it down.

For Pitch Invasion, choose a level that will specify the number of note types that will be invading. The
LEVEL determines the speed of the notes.
To shoot the aliens, click on the on-screen keyboard, MIDI keyboard or QWERTY keys.
The program settings allow you to customize the game.
Press the [?] button for more information.
Music Replay
Music Replay develops your pitch, rhythm, and melody recognition by replaying what the program plays, in note, rhythm, or
melodic modes.

For Music Replay, choose the mode of the game. There are three modes:
1. Note Replay

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2. Rhythm Replay
3. Melody Replay
Set the Level to make the game harder.
Press the [HELP] button for more information.

Vocal Wizard
The “Vocal Wizard” displays the best song keys for your vocal range!
This feature helps you choose the best song key for your vocal range. Open the Vocal Wizard, enter your vocal type (baritone,
tenor, etc.), or choose a custom range. Then the wizard analyzes the song and recommends the best keys for that song. Options
available to “include/exclude falsetto range,” “restrict choices to these keys […],” and “transpose now.”
Before we enter the Vocal Wizard, we’re going to load in the song Old Folks at Home.MGU (present in the
C:\bb\Documentation\Tutorials\Tutorial - BB2005 folder). This song is in the key of F, so we will use the Vocal Wizard to find
the best key for a baritone.
To enter the Vocal Wizard, choose the menu item Window | Lyrics | Vocal Wizard.

You can see from the screenshot that the Vocal Wizard has picked the key of D (colored green) as the best key for the song,
using the baritone vocal range. Other recommended keys are colored yellow. Un-recommended keys are colored grey and
include the current key of the song (F).
Let’s explore the areas of the Vocal Wizard screen.
There are 4 areas that require your input.
1. Entering your Vocal Range.

Here you enter your “comfortable” vocal range, from lowest note to highest note. If you can sing falsetto, you can also enter
the highest falsetto note, and the % of falsetto notes that would be acceptable as falsetto notes.
You can also select a preset (like Baritone Male or Contralto Female). Or you can select one of eight “User Preset slots” to
enter and save a custom range (if you press the [Save & Name User Preset] button).
2. Selecting the keys that would be “allowable.”

Most musicians have favorite keys, so this area allows selection of keys that would be acceptable for the Vocal Wizard to
choose. For example, if we choose “Jazz” keys, we will see that the Vocal Wizard now recommends the key of C instead of
D.

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3. Setting the range of the song to analyze (usually the whole song). Normally you’d want to analyze the whole song, but this
allows you to select a partial range.

4. Selecting the track to analyze. You’d usually pick the Melody track but can also choose the Soloist track.

You can then analyze the Melody by pressing the [Analyze] button. Most functions automatically re-analyze the song but
pressing this button forces a re- analysis of the song. This displays the analysis of the song.
1. A purple area describes the current range of the song, low note to high note, and compares it to your vocal range.

2. The radio buttons show each of the 12 semitone keys and show a score for each key. The lowest score is the best.

In the example Old Folks at Home, you can see that D is the best key, but any of the keys from G to Db are also good keys in
the selected vocal range.
3. The area in black at the bottom gives an analysis of the vocal range if the song was transposed to the chosen key.

Now that the Vocal Wizard has told us the best key for this song, we can either close the dialog, or
transpose it now to the recommended key (or any other key that we have selected with the radio buttons).
The Vocal Wizard can also work in an automatic mode, transposing a song to the best key as soon as it is loaded, without having
to visit the Vocal Wizard dialog. This is done by checking the “Auto-transpose to best key when a song is loaded” option. By
doing this, you can ensure that any song you load will be in the best key for your vocalist! And if the key isn’t deemed to be
ideal, just visit the Vocal Wizard to see an analysis of the ranges to pick an alternate key.

Rhythm Guitar Chord Tutor

Use the Guitar Tutor to analyze any song. This feature will show the chords that are playing on the virtual guitar fretboard, in
your choice of a Jazz, Pop, or Folk perspective. The Guitar Tutor is a fun way to learn about new guitar chords while playing
along with your favorite Band-in-a-Box tune.
The Rhythm Guitar Chord Tutor is most useful on styles that aren’t guitar styles, because the guitar styles already have a guitar
part that you can learn from. Using the tutor, you can see (and optionally hear) guitar chords played on the guitar fretboard. This
teaches you how to play the chords on guitar.

To turn the Rhythm Guitar Chord Tutor on, launch the Guitar Window and press the [Tutor] button.

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 Enable Chord Tutor Display: This setting silently displays the chords on the
guitar fretboard.
The Display Chords EARLY by (120/PPQ) is an “anticipate” mode that plays the
next chord X beats in advance, allowing time for the user to prepare. If set to 120,
the tutor chords will appear a full beat early.
Play Chords through MIDI: To hear the chords, select the “Play Chords through
MIDI” checkbox.
Tip: The Tutor uses the MIDI Thru part to playback on. You can control volume, panning,
etc. by using the Thru settings on the main Band-in-a-Box screen.
Guitar Patch: You can select the patch to use directly from the Tutor dialog.
Type of chords to display: The tutor will display Jazz, Pop, and Folk voicings in easy, medium, and advanced forms. The
advanced forms use inversions, and changing patterns of chords, while the easier ones just stick to the common “campfire”
chords. Half Note (sax) chords use the advanced Jazz Guitar “highest-4-strings-comping mode.” This usually plays on the 4
highest strings, and it plays several chords over a single chord. For example, for 2 bars of Cmaj7 it might play Cmaj7-Dm7-
Ebdim-Em7 all played as half notes. There are also tutors for the alternate tunings like DADGAD, Open G, etc. They can be
selected from this drop-down list.
Show muted high note of 3 note comping: One of the tutors uses 3 note jazz voicings to simulate the famous Big Band chord
guitar comping styles. If you use this, you will only see 3 notes in the chords of course. Since it sometimes helps to see the
entire 4 chord voicing in this case, there is an option to show the muted note as well.
Note: This applies to the guitar tutor. There is also an option to show this for the guitar styles. This option is present in the Guitar Options
dialog.
Copy to Melody track / Copy to Soloist track: Pressing either one of these buttons will send the chord to the appropriate track.
The Guitar Tutor stays enabled until you change the Guitar track to another track (for example, to change it to the Bass track).
You can easily re-enable it by clicking on the [Tutor] button again.

Guitar Window
This is a window for guitar and bass players! The on-screen fretboard displays any track on guitar, bass, mandolin, ukulele, or
banjo. This feature has many options such as auto-setting of correct positions, notes named on-screen, auto-octave adjust to play
in selected position, and a resizable guitar fretboard.
Launching the Guitar Window
To launch the Guitar window, press the [Guitar] toolbar button or the Ctrl+Shift+G keys, or choose the Window |
Guitar Window menu item.

Notice the various areas of the Guitar window.

- The top title bar states the key of the song, the current track, and the fret position.
- The fretboard is displayed with the highest notes of the guitar at the top, and the open position of the guitar on the left.
- There are names for the open strings displayed on the left (E B G D A E).
- There are fret positions marked at the bottom of the fretboard. You can click on these positions to change the current fret
position. Right-clicking on a fret position will set a capo at that fret.
- There are Note Names displayed for two positions on the guitar fretboard. One of the positions is the scale beginning with the
third of the scale on the lowest string. In the key of F, this is the 5th position beginning on an A note (the third of the scale).
Because it begins on the third of the scale, this position is referred to as the Phrygian Position (since an A Phrygian scale is the
same as an F scale). Similarly, the other popular scale is the scale beginning on the 6th of the scale, in the key of F, this is up
at the 10th position, and is called the Aeolian Position.
- There are note names displayed in color, with ellipses around the notes that are in the scale. The root note of the scale is
highlighted in red, the third and fifth of the scale are in purple, and the rest of the scale tones are circled in gray.

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- Pitch bends show up on the Guitar Fretboard. As the pitch bend occurs, a blue line moves along the string in real time,
illustrating the height of the pitch bend. Load in the C:\bb\Documentation\Tutorials\Tutorial - BB2005\Pitch Bend on Guitar
Demo.MGU song. You will then see pitch bends written as a blue color moving along the string.
- A capo is also drawn if you set a capo value with the [Chord Display] toolbar button menu.
- Clicking on the [x] button on a string will delete the notes on just the channel of that string on the current notation time line.
Clicking on the bottom [x] button will delete all notes on the current notation time line.
- Clicking on a note will delete the note from the Notation window if the note is currently highlighted. If no notes are
highlighted in red, then clicking on a note will first delete any notes on the current notation time line and channel before
inserting a new note.
- It supports the left-handed (in addition to the right-handed) guitar and student view. The student view is the view a student (or
YouTube video watcher) would have of the (right-handed) guitar facing him with the head at the right and low notes at the
top. There’s also a left-handed student view, so all 4 possible views are supported. To change the view, open the Guitar
Settings dialog with the [Settings] button.
Automatic Settings for Guitar Display
Band-in-a-Box does a lot of things automatically on the Guitar window to ensure that the notes are displayed intelligently on a
guitar fretboard. These include:
- Automatically setting the two positions that will display the note names based on the key.
- Auto-Scanning the track to be played and adjusting the display octave on the guitar fretboard to ensure that the best octave is
picked to minimize the number of notes that will be outside of the current position displayed on the fretboard.
- After Auto-scanning the track, the best position for displaying the music on the guitar is determined. This is always one of the
two positions, Aeolian or Phrygian, though you may over-ride this by clicking on any fret position.
- Color-coding note displays. In addition to the note names being outlined in the colors, when the note is played it is highlighted
in green if it is a scale note and yellow if it is an out-of-scale note.
Alternate Guitar Tunings
The Guitar window supports alternate tunings, including DADGAD, Drop D, Double Drop D, Open G, and 11 others. You can
also select “Nashville High Strung” tunings, which tune certain strings up an octave. These tunings are supported in Styles,
Chord Diagrams, Guitar Tutor, Notation, Tab, and Printout. Learn how to play these tunings by watching the on-screen Guitar
Fretboard or Notation/Tab window. Easily change any style to use the alternate tuning that you want.
In this discussion, we will be referring to DADGAD tuning, a popular alternate tuning. The same reasoning applies to all of the
other alternate tunings available.
There are four ways you can use Band-in-a-Box playing in DADGAD (or any alternate) tunings.
1. See any Melody (or Soloist track) displayed in DADGAD tuning. This will display on the guitar fretboard, tab, and printout.
2. See guitar parts (chording etc.) in DADGAD tuning, using correct chord shapes. For this, choose a style that has DADGAD
tuning, and view the guitar part.
3. Use the Guitar Tutor, to view DADGAD chording for any style.
4. View guitar chord diagrams in DADGAD tuning, by setting the Notation Window Options “Guitar Chord” to “DADGAD.”

Guitar Fretboard
To see the guitar neck displayed in DADGAD, choose Melody | Track Type | Guitar – DADGAD Tuning.
When you open the Guitar window and choose the Melody track, you will see the DADGAD tuning.

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Any melody will now display in the chosen tuning. Similarly, you can set the Soloist track to an alternate guitar tuning with the
Soloist | Track Type menu.
The Guitar track (or Piano, Strings) is controlled by the style, and will only reflect the type of tuning stored in the style. Load in
some alternate tuning styles included in Styles Set #44 – Requested 4 to see guitar chording in alternate tunings. Another way to
see the guitar play chords in alternate tunings is to use the “Guitar Tutor.”
Select DADGAD tuning and enable Guitar Tutor.
Now, during playback, you will see guitar chords on the guitar fretboard in DADGAD tuning.

The examples above are for DADGAD tuning but apply similarly to all 11 alternate tunings included.
Guitar Window Toolbar

The [Settings] button opens the Guitar Settings dialog, which allows you to set the guitar options.
The [<] [>] [<-] [->] buttons will chord step advance or note-step advance. The chord step advance is the most commonly used
function. It is also accessible by the hotkeys Ins and Del on the numeric keypad and will advance or go back one chord at a
time, leaving the chord displayed on the guitar.
You will see the name of the current note that the mouse is over. If you click on the guitar at that position, the note will sound. If
the Notation window is open (in Editable Notation or Staff Roll mode), that note will get inserted on the notation at the current
position on the time line – you can disable that option to insert notes.
To change the track to display, click on the track selector button and select a track from the menu. You can also hover the mouse
cursor over it and use the mouse wheel to quickly switch tracks.
The [Tutor] button runs the Guitar Tutor.
The [POS] button toggles between the two popular positions displayed with note names.
The [Chord Solo] button generates a guitar chord solo based on the existing Melody track using correct guitar fret positions.
When you have a note or chord highlighted using the Chord Step Advance keys ([Ins] or [Del] on the NUMPAD keypad), press
the [Ch-] or [Ch+] (insert guitar chord) button on the guitar, or [7] or [8] on the NUMPAD keypad. Each time you press the
[Ch-] or [Ch+] you will see that the guitar chord changes to a different voicing, cycling through the available 5-10 voicings
possible for each chord. (Some notes won’t have any chord voicings, for example a C# note on a Cmaj7 chord, because it is
always a passing tone.)
In a similar manner, you can convert a chord to a guitar note using the insert guitar note button. Pressing the [N-] or [N+] (or [3]
or [4] on the NUMPAD keypad) repeatedly cycles through playing the same note on all 6 strings.
Guitar Settings
The Guitar Settings dialog allows you the ability to adjust various parameters on the virtual guitar fretboard so that music can
be displayed effectively (and easily) on this window, regardless of the original instrument intended for the track data. It also
offers the ability to enter notation using the virtual guitar and play back track data in specific fretboard positions for educational
and sight-reading purposes.

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Fretboard: You can choose the regular guitar, bass, ukulele, mandolin, banjo, and violin as well as the alternate tunings
available in Band-in-a-Box, such as DADGAD, Double Drop D, and Nashville high-strung tunings.
Fretboard octave: For example, if the music is very low and you need to boost the octave to display it on the guitar, set the
octave to 1 or 2.
Auto-set octave: If this is enabled, the octave will be set automatically.
Use index finger position: If this is enabled, the scale will use the index finger, instead of the little finger, to play notes that are
one fret outside of the normal position.
Show out-of-range notes: Enable this if you want to see any note displayed on the guitar even if it is out of the guitar range.
Show muted high note of guitar style comping: If this is enabled, the applicable high note that is muted or left out with three
note jazz voicings will be displayed.
Use inlays: Enable this option if you want to see a guitar inlay along the neck.
Left-handed: With this option, the Guitar window displays for the left-handed users.
Student view: This is a view a student (or YouTube video watcher) would have of the (right-handed) guitar facing him, with the
head at the right and low notes at the top. (With the combination with Left-Handed and Tutor Mode options, the Guitar window
has 4 possible views - Right-Handed, Left-Handed, Right-Handed & Student View, Left-Handed & Student View.)
Send Notes to Notation Window: If this is enabled, clicking a guitar string will insert a note at the current time line on the
Notation window.
Output guitar tracks on 6 channels for this song: If this is selected, notes played on each of the six guitar strings will be
assigned to one of six different MIDI channels.
Note Display Options: You can choose what will be displayed on the guitar fretboard. If MIDI Thru is selected, the fretboard
will display the music played on a MIDI keyboard. If Current Track is selected, the current track will be displayed. You can
select to display both.
Fretboard color: The fretboard color can be brown or black.
Multi-channel mode: If this is enabled, the guitar will display information on multi channels on guitar strings 1 to 6. The
channels will be determined by the Base Channel below.
Base channel (default=11): This determines the starting channel when the Multi-Channel Mode is enabled. If this is set to 11,
channels 11 to 16 will be used for guitar stings 1 to 6.
Show notes at Aeolian position / Show notes at Phrygian position: The note names can be displayed at the Aeolian position,
the Phrygian position, or both.
Note names: You can choose which notes will be displayed on the fretboard. Options are None, Root Only, Chord Tones, and
Scale Tones.
Auto-set position: Positions can be set automatically to None, Aeolian, or Phrygian.
Auto-switch position: This option automatically chooses the best position when a track is loaded.
Fretlight guitar support: The Fretlight is a hardware guitar, which has red LED lights on the frets. (See www.fretlight.com for
more information.) If this option is enabled, information on the Guitar window will be displayed on the Fretlight.
Left-handed Fretlight: Enable this if you have a left-handed Fretlight guitar.
Open Guitar with playback: The Guitar window must be open for the Fretlight to receive guitar notes in Band-in-a-Box.
Enable this option so that the Guitar window will open every time play is pressed.
Show scales on Fretlight: If this is enabled, the scales that show on the Guitar window will also show on the Fretlight guitar.

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Guitar width /Guitar height / [Update]: The Guitar window can be sized by typing in the values or pressing the preset buttons.
When you type in values, press the [Update] button.
Displaying MIDI files from Guitar Pro® on the Guitar Fretboard
MIDI files can be read from Guitar Pro® and displayed correctly on the Guitar Fretboard in Band-in-a-Box. You can then import
the audio file, and using Audio Chord Wizard, you can sync up the original audio recording with the Guitar Pro® MIDI file. So
you then listen to the original audio as you watch the guitar transcription (from Guitar Pro® playing in Band-in-a-Box).
To export MIDI files on 6 channels in Guitar Pro®, you need to:
Turn the RSE off (menu Sound - Realistic Sound Engine).

Press the Guitar Settings button on the left of the Guitar Pro® window and then enable the force 11-16
channels option.
Export the Track (menu File - Export - MIDI).

Then, in Band-in-a-Box, click on the [Open] button and choose the menu item Open Entire MIDI File (.mid) to Melody Track to
load a Guitar Pro® MIDI file into Band-in-a-Box.
You can then play the file and watch the guitar fretboard to see it. Band-in-a-Box has a large guitar fretboard, sizable with many
options, so you may like displaying some of your Guitar Pro® files in Band-in-a-Box.

Big Piano Window

The Big Piano window can display the notes of any track on a resizable piano keyboard. You can also set the range of the piano
and number of octaves to display. Additionally, you can display notes names or guide notes --showing the scale notes of the
current key. Notes can be displayed using a different color for each note. There’s an “Auto-Octave” setting that will scan the
track to be displayed and auto-size the piano to the largest size that would display all of the notes. This “Big Piano” makes it
easier to learn piano parts from within Band-in-a-Box.
The Big Piano window is launched (or closed) by pressing the piano icon on the Views toolbar, by pressing
Ctrl+Shift+N, or choosing Window | Big Piano Window.

- The default settings for this feature can be customized by pressing the [Settings] button.

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- The Big Piano window displays a single track on the piano.
- The piano can be resized by dragging the bottom of the window to enlarge it vertically.
- The key of the song is displayed at the top.
- The range of the piano is set automatically (based on the actual notes in the track) to show the largest possible piano).
- The notes of the scale are circled on the piano, with the note names included.
- The root of the scale is colored in red. As the song plays, scale tones are colored green; other notes are colored yellow.
- The name of the note that the mouse cursor is over is highlighted at the top of the window. Clicking on the Big Piano plays a
note (using the Thru part) and this can be recorded or sent to the Notation window when entering notation.
- RealTracks (and MIDI style) piano parts that are on the piano track will appear with hands-split (right hand in red, left hand in
blue) in the Big Piano window.
- Clicking on the [x] button will delete highlighted red notes from the Notation window.
Big Piano Settings

This dialog allows you to set various options on the Big Piano.
- You can set a specific range for the Big Piano, a starting note and a number of octaves, by over-riding the “auto” settings.
- “Show out-of-range notes” ensures that all notes will be displayed.
- If the “Send Notes to Notation Window” checkbox is enabled, clicking a virtual key on the big piano will insert a note to the
notation track. (Note: The Notation window must be opened and set to editable notation mode.)
- If “Note Guides” is selected, guide notes will be shown on the keyboard. The guide notes can be scale tones, chord tones, or
roots only.
- Note Names and Note Colors can be used as in the Notation settings.
- There is an option to Show Out-of-Scale notes in Yellow.
- The size of the piano keyboard can be entered in pixels, or set with the preset buttons, or set by dragging the bottom border of
the window.

Dynamic 3D Drum Kit Window

This sizeable drum window is an animated 3D display of a complete MIDI drum kit with all 61 drum sounds displayed on their
respective instruments. Watch the drums being played or play-along/record by using QWERTY keys or a mouse.
To launch the Drums Window, click on the [Drums] toolbar button or choose Window | Drum Kit Window. You can
also open it with the Ctrl+Shift+G keys.
You can do several things with the Drums Window.
- Watch the drums being played on the Drums window in real time.
- Play along with the drums in real time by clicking on the drum instruments or using the QWERTY keys. The computer
keyboard, the piano key number, and sound names can all (optionally) be made visible on the hint line by moving your mouse
cursor over a given instrument.
- Record a drum part into Band-in-a-Box.
Drum Display
All the General MIDI percussion instruments are shown. Some percussion instruments are triggered by multiple MIDI notes.
When a sound is controlled by more than one MIDI note, a percussion instrument will show different behavior in response to the
different notes. For instance, the Hi-Hat responds differently to Close Hat, Pedal Hat, and Open Hat MIDI notes.

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The Drum Kit window can be resized to tile or fit with other windows of interest, or the drums can be moved off-screen. The
window looks best if your computer display is in High Color (16 bit) or True Color (32 bit) video mode.
The onscreen instruments may be played by mouse clicking or by pressing
the appropriate computer keys. There is an option to display all the
QWERTY names on the drums at the same time so that you can see what
keys to hit without having to mouse over the instrument. When playing by
mouse click or computer keys, the Shift key can be used to switch the
velocity between two user-specified levels (i.e., loud=100 and soft=50).
The drums that you play show up in green; the computer played drums are
red.
The multi-note instruments send different MIDI notes to your sound
source, depending on where you “click” on the instrument. For instance,
the Kick Drum can send three different notes: Ac. Bass Drum (MIDI note
35), Bass Drum 1 (MIDI note 36), and Square Kick (MIDI Note 32).

Tip: The hint line at the top of the window describes the current control under the mouse cursor. Use the hint line to learn the mouse-
responsive areas of each drum instrument.

Control Buttons
- Record: Puts Band-in-a-Box in the Record mode so drums can be recorded.
- Play: Starts song playback.
- Rewind: Stops and returns to song start.
- Stop: Stops song playback.
- Size Buttons 1/1 - 1/2 - 1/4: Clicking on these buttons changes the size of the drums window to full size, half size, or quarter-
size. (You can also resize the drums window to any size by dragging a window border.)
- Settings: Adjusts program behavior. See settings window section below.
Computer “QWERTY” Keys

Numeric keypad
Press computer keys to play drums.
Drums are grouped on the computer keyboard by category. The kick, snare, and hi-hat sounds are on the
lowest keyboard row. The lower-middle row contains toms and cymbals. The upper-middle row
contains Latin drums, and the top row contains Latin hand percussion. The Numpad keys contain the
rest of the Latin hand percussion plus the electronic tones.

Multi - Note Instruments

Kick Drum - Ac. Bass Drum, Bass Drum 1, Square Kick
Snare - Acoustic Snare, Side Stick
Hi-Hat - Closed, Pedal, Open
Floor Tom - Low, High
Electronic Pad - Multi-zoned for Hi-Q, Slap, Electric Snare
High Conga - Mute, Open
Surdo - Mute, Open
Cuica - Mute, Open

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Metronome - Bell, Click
Whistle - Long, Short
Triangle - Mute, Open
Guiro - Long, Short
Scratch - Push, Pull
Settings Dialog
Press the Settings button (to the left of Rewind button), to adjust the various Drum Kit Settings.
Drum window is always on top: Use this checkbox to
keep the Drums window on top of other program
windows.
Note Velocity: When playing drums with a mouse or
computer keys, the shift key toggles between two levels of
note velocity. The two velocity levels can be set any way
desired. For instance, if you want the shift key to send
quieter notes you can set the shift velocity lower than the
non-shift velocity.
Randomize: Use this checkbox to enable the program to
send random velocity levels when playing the drums. This
is handy when using non- velocity sensitive devices.
“Range” controls the amount of velocity randomization.
Usually a small range works best, around 10% to 30%. For
example, if velocity is set to 127, and the random range is
set to 20%, notes would randomly vary between a
maximum velocity of 127 and a minimum velocity of 102.
Instrument Hints: Customize the appearance of the Hint line.
- Show Note Name
- Show MIDI Note Number
- Show Computer Key
Show: “Show All Instruments” shows all instruments in the drum window. “Show Used Instruments” displays the basic trap kit
but does not display any extra instruments unless they are used in a song.
The drum window is cleared each time Play or Stop is pressed.

Chord “Breaks”
This feature is great for practicing tempo control.
Select the # of bars, and Band-in-a-Box will play for, say 4 bars (selectable), and then will rest all instruments for the next 4 bars.
During the silence, you keep playing (comping, drums, melody, etc.), trying to stay in tempo. Drummers can mute the drum part.
When the band comes back in after the 4 bars, you will get instant feedback on how well you have maintained the tempo, as
indicated by whether the band comes back in time with you or not.
Once set, this feature works automatically with all songs until you turn it off.
To access the Chord Breaks feature, press the [Chord Breaks] button from the Practice Window and then
select “Insert Breaks.”

It can also be launched from [Prefs] [Arrange].

You then choose how many bars the program should play, and how many bars the program
should not play.
This setting remains in effect for all songs. Turn it off if you want to resume normal playing of
songs.

Scale Wizard
The Scale Wizard allows you to easily generate scales, which appear as notation on the Soloist track. Options include
Instrument Range, Patch Selection, Jazzy Mode (will use Lydian dominant scales for some 7th chords), and Diatonic Mode
(keeps scales relative to the song key).
You can access this feature from the Soloists | Scale submenu.

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The menu item Generate Scales opens the dialog, which allows you to set options for scales that will be generated. If Auto-
Generate Scales when play pressed is checked, scales will be automatically generated when a song is played. You can view the
scales in the notation and the on-screen guitar and piano.

Scale Direction: When playing a new scale, either start on the root of the scale
(going up) or start with the closest scale tone (moving up or down). The two
modes are:
1. Ascending. The scales will always start on the root that is in the octave
above the Lowest Note that is set and will play in ascending order.
2. Walking. The scales will start on the nearest scale tone to the previous tone
that was played. The notes will ascend to the Highest Note setting, and then
descend (by scale tones) down to the Lowest Note.
Write to Track: Choose Melody or Soloist track to write the scales to
Lowest Note is the lowest note to play for any scale. C5 (note 60) is middle C.
Highest Note is the highest note to play, used when the scale direction is up and down (Walking).
Scale Tones Diatonic to Key Signature: If diatonic, minor scales will be according to the key (VI minor is Aeolian etc.).
Otherwise, all minors will be Dorian.
Use Jazz Scales: If set, will use Lydian b7 chords. Chords like Bb7 in the key of C will have Lydian b7 scales (i.e., A#4 in the
scale).
Patch: Send this MIDI patch (instrument) when playing the scale.
[Defaults] sets to default values.
[OK - Generate Scales] writes the scales to the notation of the selected track, Soloist or Melody.

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Install Manager
You can download and install the entire package of your order with the one-click Install Manager. This is a much simpler
alternative to manually downloading and installing all the files individually that are listed on the “My Products” page in your
account. This is particularly useful for “download-only” (e-delivery) versions of the Band-in-a-Box Pro, Mega, and UltraPAK,
since there can be 100 GB of files to download and install. (Note: If you selected the download-only option during checkout and
are having trouble getting your files, you can contact us to have a physical copy shipped.)

Do I need to use the Install Manager?

You do not need to use the Install Manager. There are several options for you to download and install files. The Install Manager
is available as of November 2021, but any method that you have used in the past to download your files will still work the same.
For example, if you prefer, you can download the files individually by clicking them one at a time as you may have done in the
past. Or, you can copy your download links into your preferred third-party download manager.
Where do I find the Install Manager?
After you place your order, click on the link(s) in your order confirmation email to go directly to your Downloads page for each
product. (Note: The Install Manager will only work for orders placed on March 2021 or later. For any order (including orders
placed prior to that), you can still access the downloads on your “My Products” page by logging into your account at
www.pgmusic.com and clicking on [My Products].)
If the Install Manager is available for the product, there will be a link to download it at the top of your download page list.
(Note: Download the 64-bit version unless you have an old computer with a 32-bit OS, which is not very common.)
Once this setup file is downloaded, run it to install the Install Manager on your computer. By default, it will be installed into
your Band-in-a-Box Data folder (e.g., C:\bb\Data\InstallManager) and will create a desktop shortcut icon. It is ok if you don’t
yet have Band-in-a-Box installed on your computer. (Note: There is an older “Download Manager” that you may have in your
bb\Data\downloadManager folder. This is an older program that works differently.)
Note: More documentation for the Install Manager is available at https://www.pgmusic.com/download-manager-help.htm

Find File
So many files, so little time? This feature is a “Swiss Army Knife” that allows you to find a Band-in-a-Box song (or any file that
Band-in-a-Box can open), including filtering by words found in the file name or any text in the file. Go to File | Open Special |
Find File to open this dialog.
Tip: This dialog also opens with the S S 1 1 Enter keys.

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You can define your search by the name and location of the file, or by the date and size.
Name & Location: This includes filtering by words found in the file name or any text in the file. For example, you can
- get a listing of all Band-in-a-Box songs on your PC with the word “Blues” in the title.
- get a listing of all Band-in-a-Box songs in the BB folder with the word “Reggae” in them.
Date & Size: Use this window to search in a particular range of dates or times. This can be useful if you have multiple versions
of a file from different dates and sessions.
The listing stays between sessions, so you can then take your time to explore all the songs that Band-in-a-Box offers that match
your find term.

DAW Plug-In Mode

Band-in-a-Box has a “plug-in” mode for your favorite sequencer (RealBand, Sonar, Reaper, Pro Tools, FL-Studio, Nuendo and
more). With the plug-in mode, Band-in-a-Box is open as a small always-on-top window, and acts as a plug-in for your favorite
DAW/sequencer, so that you can drag-and-drop MIDI and audio (WAV) tracks from Band-in-a-Box to your favorite sequencer.
Work in your favorite sequencer, type a progression in Band-in-a-Box, and then simply drag the track from Band-in-a-Box to
your sequencer’s track at the desired track and bar location.
The DAW Plug-in mode is a mode within the regular Band-in-a-Box program. This mode allows you to transfer tracks, or parts
of tracks, to other DAW Sequencers easily, by simply dragging the track icons from Band-in-a-Box (BB) to the tracks window
of your DAW.
For the Drag and Drop to work, you need to have your MIDI driver set to use a DXi or VSTi synth (like Coyote WaveTable
DXi).
You can enter and exit the plug-in mode easily by pressing the small [DAW] button on the main toolbar.
When you select the DAW mode…
1. The window size of Band-in-a-Box changes to a small size (you can resize it to the size/position that you want, and it will
remember that).
2. Band-in-a-Box becomes an always-on-top window, if the option is set in the Plugin settings dialog.
Drag and Drop Tracks
This is the Drop Station where you drag a track button at the top of the screen or a track label from the Mixer and
drop it to get an audio or MIDI version of the track. It shows six different file types: audio files
(WAV/WMA/M4A/MWAL/MP3) or MIDI file (MID).
The Drop Station makes it faster and easier to make different file types. It also allows you to make MIDI versions of the
RealTracks (RealCharts), by simply dragging a RealTrack to the “MIDI” area of the Drop Station.

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 If you want the entire performance dragged to the DAW, drag the Master button to the Drop Station. By default, a single
file is dropped with the entire arrangement. But if you want all tracks transferred as separate files, uncheck the “Drag Master as
separate tracks” option in the Plug-in Setting dialog.
If you want a single track transferred, drag that track name. For example, drag the Bass radio button to transfer the bass
track. If the track is a RealTrack with RealCharts, you can drop it to the “MIDI” area.
If you want to transfer only a portion of the performance, you can do this by selecting the
region in Band-in-a-Box, and then dragging the track button to the Drop Station. (Don’t drag the selected region.)
When you drop the track onto the Drop Station, you will see an orange color, indicating that the track is accepted
and the file is being prepared.
When the file is ready, the Drop Station turns green. You can now drag it to your favorite DAW (Sonar, Pro Tools
etc.) or Windows® Explorer.
When you drop the track to the [+], you are presented with a dialog, where you can choose a file format and other
render options.
You can choose a format (WAV, WMA, WMA lossless, M4A, MP3, or MID) of the
file.
When you have dragged the Master radio button, you can select the Separate files for
each track option.
Check the Include Mix option to render a mix of all tracks to a separate file.
If the Individual tracks flat, dry, and center option is enabled, each track will render
ignoring its Mixer settings (Volume, Pan, Reverb, and Tone), and the default settings
will be used instead. The default settings are Volume=0 db, Pan = 0, Reverb= 0, Tone
= 0). If this option is disabled and there is no lead-in in the Melody track, the lead-in
will be skipped in the rendered file.
If Normalize audio files is selected, the file will be normalized. Normalizing boosts
the volume to a maximum level without distortion. Most professional music tracks are
normalized.
If you want to add ACID information (tempo, key, and time signature) to the WAV
file, check the Acidize WAV files option.
The dialog also has settings for Bit Depth (16, 24, 32 bit) and Sample Rate (44.1, 48,
96 kHz).

Plug-In Settings
To get to the DAW Plugin settings dialog, press the [Plugin] button and choose the
menu item Options for DAW Plug-in.

Alternatively, go to the Preferences dialog and click on the [DAW Plugin] tab.

You will then see the plug-in options.

Allow Drag n Drop: If this is disabled, the Drag & Drop feature
will not work. There shouldn’t be a reason to disable this.
Drag individual MIDI tracks as audio (using VSTi/DXi): This
option applies when you drag a track directly to a DAW. When
this is enabled, the chosen MIDI tracks get converted to audio,
using your currently selected VSTi/DXi (e.g., Coyote WT or
Forte).
Drag Master track as audio (using VSTi/DXi for MIDI
tracks): This option applies when you drag a Master track
directly to a DAW. When this is enabled, each track will get
converted to audio using your currently selected VSTi/DXi (e.g.,
Coyote WT or Forte). When this is disabled, the MIDI tracks in
the arrangement get transferred as MIDI, in a single file.
Drag Master as separate tracks: If this is enabled, then when
you drag the Master radio button, the drop will result in multiple
files, one for each track.

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Drag Audio as: You can select a type of audio files to create.
Always on Top: If this option is enabled, the Band-in-a-Box window will be always-on-top. Note that if you change this in the
dialog, it won’t take effect until you exit the dialog.
Recycle (trash) all dropped files in this folder on bootup: If you enable this option, the DragDrop folder (C:\bb\DragDrop)
will get erased on bootup. Many DAWs require the files to remain permanently, so do not enable this option unless you are sure
that your DAW does not require the files to remain.
You can use a Custom Drag n Drop Folder for the temp files if you prefer, inside your DAW’s folder for example. Then the
dragged files will also be in Explorer in a folder near your DAW’s audio project.

CoyoteWT
The Coyote Wavetable DXi synth is included with Band-in-a-Box. This works with Band-in-a-Box and other DXi compatible
host programs to produce realistic instrument sounds and is compatible with all the latest Windows® operating systems,
including the 64-bit version of Windows® 7, 8, 10, or 11.
The CoyoteWT can be installed automatically when you install Band-in-a-Box, or you can install it at a later date by running the
file SetupCoyoteWT.exe from the C:\bb\Data\Installers folder.
Selecting the CoyoteWT
To use the Coyote Wavetable as your driver, press the [MIDI] toolbar button and select MIDI/Audio
Driver Setup from the drop-down menu. This will open the MIDI/Audio Drivers Setup dialog.

Enable the Use VSTi/DXi Synth option and press the [VSTi/DXi Synth] button.

Then select the <DXi> CoyoteWT from the list.

Coyote WT Overview
The main display panel lists the sixteen available MIDI channels down the
left side with the program, bank number, and name of each instrument patch
assignment. During playback the number of voices (notes) being used by
each instrument is displayed.

What does CoyoteWT do?

CoyoteWT (WaveTable) works in conjunction with Band-in-a-Box or other DXi-compatible host programs, to produce realistic
audio output. It plays “samples” of actual instruments in response to commands from the DXi host. For instance, when Band-in-
a-Box says to play a loud middle C using an acoustic steel-string guitar, CoyoteWT looks up that note of that instrument in its
sample-bank database and then outputs that note to the sound card, at the requested volume, for the requested duration.

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System Requirements
Generating a realistic emulation of dozens of instruments at a time requires a fairly powerful computer. The following
requirements should be considered as absolute minimums:
- Pentium III CPU at 500 MHz.
- 128 MB RAM.
- 20 GB disk, 7200 rpm.
- a 16-bit sound card.
- Windows® 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, or 11.
For best performance, the following specifications are recommended:
- Pentium-4 or Athlon XP CPU at 1.7 GHz.
- 256 MB RAM.
- 40 GB disk, 7200 rpm, 30 MB/s read rate.
- a 20-bit or 24-bit sound card.
- Windows® 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, or 11.
Coyote Settings
Program settings for the CoyoteWT are made in its context menu.
The context menu can be accessed by right-clicking on the CoyoteWT property page (that
is, its main display).
Click on the features in the list to enable or disable them. Several of the features open
dialog boxes with additional controls.
For help, click on the Help Index item.

Reverb: Clicking on this menu item brings up a dialog in which you can control the reverb parameters. The available controls
are:
- Room Size: select one of:
- Club (the smallest simulated room)
- Stage
- Hall (the largest simulated room)
- Damping: Setting the slider to the leftmost position simulates a room with hard, reflective walls. Setting the slider to the
rightmost position simulates a room with absorbent walls. The effects of this control are fairly subtle.
Click on OK to apply the changes.
Enable Compressor: Clicking on this menu item turns the compressor on or off. When it is on you will see a check mark beside
the menu item. When the compressor is enabled, the overall dynamic range will be slightly compressed (mostly by boosting the
quieter signals), and the sound will have a little more “presence.”
Enable Limiter: Clicking on this menu item turns the limiter on or off. When it is on you will see a check mark beside the menu
item. When the limiter is enabled, the overall volume level is increased, and in order to keep momentary peaks from clipping or
distorting, CoyoteWT briefly reduces the volume just before the peak occurs and then increases it again after the peak is over.
The volume changes are performed smoothly and are usually inaudible. The increased volume is desirable because it increases
the overall signal-to-noise ratio.
Tuning Adjust: Clicking on this menu item brings up a dialog in which you can enter an adjustment to be applied to all samples
in the sample-set. The adjustment is specified in terms of cents, where one cent is 1/100 of a semitone.
Limit Polyphony: Clicking on this menu item brings up a dialog in which you can specify the maximum polyphony (number of
simultaneous notes that can be played). If your CPU is not powerful enough to handle 100 notes at once (some are not) you may
be able to reduce audio clicks by choosing a number lower than 100. This is usually preferable to the artifacts produced when
you run out of CPU power.
EQ and Volume Adj.: Clicking on this brings up a dialog in which you can specify the amount of boost or cut to be applied to
the low or high frequencies. You can use this to compensate for the frequency response of your speakers, your sample file, or
just to accommodate your preference. The bass (low frequencies) and treble (high frequencies) can each be boosted or cut by up
to 12 dB. Positive numbers produce a boost; negative numbers produce a cut. You can also specify an overall volume
adjustment. The allowable range is limited to plus or minus 3 dB.
Enable High-Quality Resampler: CoyoteWT modifies the pitch of a note by resampling. Normally you should leave the default,
high-quality, enabled. However, if you are using a slow PC (say, 500 MHz or less) you may get better results by disabling high-
quality mode.

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Guitar/Bass Tuner
The Tuner is optimized for guitar and bass, though it may be useful with other instruments. Connect an electric guitar or bass to
your computer’s sound card Line-In, or tune an acoustic instrument using a microphone connected to the sound card Mic input.
Play a pitch and the tuner will auto-range to determine the nearest note and display the intonation of your instrument.
Press the on-screen [Tuner] button or select the Window | Guitar Tuner menu item to launch the Tuner Window.

Tip: There are detailed Guitar Tuner instructions in the online Help topic
connecting an Instrument.
The Tuner must be able to receive audio from your instrument via
the line-in or microphone input of your sound card. Please make
sure that either the Microphone In or Line-In is enabled in the
Recording Properties of the Windows® Mixer (or the appropriate
Mixer application for your sound card).

Master Tuning
This function allows you to tune your sound card or module to another instrument, as well as adding a testing function to see if
your sound card supports Master Tuning. This is useful if you’re playing along with an instrument or recording that can’t easily
be re-tuned like an acoustic piano. A setting of 0 is the default A = 440.
Select the Options | GM Settings, etc. | Master Tuning menu item to launch the Master Tune dialog.
Tip: Not all sound cards/modules support the Master Tuning
feature. To see if your sound card supports Master Tuning,
press the [TEST] button in the dialog shown above.

MIDI Monitor
MIDI Monitor displays a listing of data received from computer MIDI Input and/or Band-in-a-Box output, useful for
educational or diagnostic purposes.
The MIDI Monitor opens with the [MIDI] button on the main screen toolbar, or with the menu command Window |
MIDI Monitor.
Tip: To display the data received from the computer MIDI Input,
the MIDI THRU option must be enabled in Band-in-a-Box.

The MIDI Monitor has options for 1-based patch numbering and patch name display. Quick View Filter presets (such as “Notes
Only,” “Controllers Only,” “Program Changes Only,” “Programs including Bank Changes”).
MIDI Monitor - Main Window
MIDI Display Controls
Event: The current event number since the display was last cleared.

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Clear: Clears MIDI Display, Event counter, and Channel Activity panel.
Save Text: Save a tab-delimited text file of the data in the MIDI display. The file can be opened with a word processor or
spreadsheet program, for printing or further study. Various Save Text options can be adjusted in the Settings window.
Settings: Open the Settings dialog, to adjust display behavior. The display can be modified to suit the task at hand.
Filter: Open the Filter dialog, where receive settings can be adjusted.
Sequencer Control
The [Play], [Rewind], and [Stop] buttons control song playback without the need to return to the main Band-in-a-Box screen.
Timer
A millisecond timer is useful for viewing timing relationships between messages. To use Band-in-a-Box to measure in
milliseconds, set Band-in-a-Box PPQN to 480, and Band-in-a-Box tempo to 125 BPM. With this special resolution and tempo,
tick values in the Event List window will correspond to milliseconds.
Current Time - The millisecond count since the timer was last started. Click anywhere in the Timer area to clear the Current
time, setting it to zero.
Channel Activity Panel
This panel has an array of “LEDs” to show which channels are active.
MIDI Display Area
The MIDI Display area at the bottom of the main window, displays the data generated by Band-in-a-Box and/or data received at
the computer MIDI input. Each row is a single MIDI event.
Evt #: Event number, starting from when the display was last cleared.
Time (mS): The time in milliseconds of the event, from when the timer was last cleared.
Source: Int means the event was generated by Band-in-a-Box, and Ext means the event was generated by an external MIDI
Device attached to the computer MIDI In port.
Raw: The raw bytes representing each MIDI message. Most MIDI Message types contain three bytes, but some messages
contain one or two bytes. SysEx messages can contain an arbitrary number of bytes. This field is blank in the case of SysEx
messages. With SysEx messages, up to 16 “Raw” bytes are displayed in the Data fields. Long SysEx messages are displayed on
multiple lines, 16 bytes per line.
Status: Text name of the Event type.
Chan: MIDI channel of the Event. This field is blank for System messages (values from $F0 to $FF). System messages do not
have an associated channel.
Data 1: Text name for the meaning of the first data byte of the MIDI message. For some messages such as Pitch Bend or Song
Position Pointer, the value of both bytes 1 and 2 are displayed in Data 1.
Data 2: Text name for the second data byte of a MIDI Message.
Note: Some MIDI messages, such as Program Change or Channel Pressure, have only a single Data byte, and the Data 2 field will be blank.
Also, some MIDI Messages have no data bytes, in which case both Data fields will be blank.

Display Filter
The Display Filter dialog allows you to select what MIDI events will be recognized by the MIDI Monitor program.
Tip: Virtually any combination of display events can be selected in the filter. It is
therefore possible to select combinations that do not display any MIDI events at all.
The MIDI Monitor will warn you about the more obvious “nil” combinations, but if you
find that you are not receiving what you expected, carefully re-examine these filter
settings.

Fretlight® support
The Fretlight® is a cool electric hardware guitar that has LED lights on the frets.

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If you have a Fretlight, you can mirror the output of the Band-in-a-Box on-screen guitar to the Fretlight fretboard. You can just
look at the Fretlight as you play along to any of the great guitar RealTracks or guitar Artist Performances as you hear the
playing, and see the fret positions on your Fretlight guitar.
Note: Band-in-a-Box does not support a wireless Fretlight guitar with Bluetooth.
For the Fretlight support to be enabled, you need to set “Fretlight Guitar Support” in the Guitar Settings dialog.

Plug in the wired Fretlight to your computer, and Band-in-a-Box will find it. Then, any output that happens on the Band-in-a-
Box Guitar window will automatically get mirrored to the Fretlight so that you see the guitar played on your Fretlight. Now you
can, using your Fretlight:
- See the Artist Performance Tracks played by Nashville Legend Brent Mason show up on your Fretlight guitar as you hear the
tracks.
- Set the Guitar Tutor in Band-in-a-Box to play strumming chord shapes, which works for any song in Band-in-a-Box (choose
your chord types jazz/pop/folk etc.)
- See RealTracks played on your Fretlight guitar, as you hear them played by the Masters in audio.

TranzPort® Support - Wireless Remote Control

The Frontier Design TranzPort® is a wireless remote-control hardware unit (Electronic Musician Editors’
Choice 2006) that allows you to control Band-in-a-Box through walls from 30 feet away!
Note: The TranzPort is currently not in production. It’s still a great product if you can find one.

The backlit LCD provides a two-line readout, and buttons and a wheel allow control of many Band-in-a-Box features. Select
songs and play/stop/pause/loop. Select/mute/solo tracks and volume/tempo changes are all supported. And best of all, when the
song is playing, the chords of the song are displayed in time on the backlit LCD screen.
You can, for example, put the TranzPort unit on your piano at home (or your music stand on a gig) and load/play/control and
view chords for songs, all while far away from your computer – all wirelessly up to 30 feet – even through walls! Selectable
transpose lets the TranzPort show chords in a non-concert key (e.g., Eb Alto) while the computer shows concert -great for jam
sessions! Or display the scrolling lyrics of the song on the TranzPort for a wireless Karaoke session! The TranzPort also works
“right-out-of-the-box” with other popular music software, including Sonar™, Logic®, and many others.
Using TranzPort with Band-in-a-Box
First, you need to purchase a TranzPort unit, and install it.
Now, make sure that the TranzPort is installed and working. You can determine that it is installed and working by running
Band-in-a-Box and looking at the list of MIDI Drivers (Options | Audio/MIDI Driver Setup). If “TranzPort” appears on the list
of MIDI-IN and MIDI-OUT drivers, then the TranzPort is installed correctly.
Important: DO NOT SELECT the TranzPort drivers, since it is not a sound module. Band-in-a-Box will automatically find the TranzPort unit to
send/ receive data.
To start using the TranzPort
- While Band-in-a-Box is running, “wake up” the TranzPort by pressing a key on the TranzPort (STOP key for example).
- The TranzPort display will show
“Title of BB song” <tempo> <Current Track> <track volume> <patch #/name>
For example, the screen might say
- “My Tune”
- 120 Mel v 122 p1 Acoustic Piano
- Track < and Track> buttons change the current track Bass/Drums/Piano/Guitar/Strings/Melody/Soloist/Thru
Controlling Patches/Tempo/Volume
- The WHEEL changes the tempo.
- Shift+WHEEL changes the volume of the ALL TRACKS.
- [Prev] [WHEEL] changes the volume of the current track.
- [ADD] [WHEEL] changes the patch of the current track using Favorite Patches.
- [NEXT] [WHEEL] changes the patch of the current track, cycling through all patches.
- MUTE AND SOLO mutes or solos the current track.
- Shift+MUTE, will mute/un-mute ALL tracks.
Loading Songs
- [IN] button opens the “Favorite Songs” dialog. The LCD screen of the TranzPort displays the current song, and the WHEEL
cycles through the various songs. When you’ve found the song that you want, press PLAY to load and play the song (or

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 “Solo” to function like the OK button in the Favorite Songs dialog, note if “Play song when chosen” is set or not in that
dialog). Press UNDO to cancel the dialog.
- [OUT] button functions in a similar manner, except it uses the Song List dialog.
- Shift+ [IN] loads the previous song in alphabetical order, by filename, in the same folder.
- Shift+ [OUT] loads the next song in alphabetical order, by filename, in the same folder.
Playing Songs
- PLAY button plays the song.
- [RED button beside play] pauses the song.
- STOP button stops the song.
- [<<] and [>>] buttons jump to the previous or next section of the song. You can define custom sections of the song (using the
Conductor in Band-in-a-Box), but if you haven’t, the sections default to lead-in, intro, first chorus, middle chorus, last chorus,
ending.
- LOOP button will loop the current section
- Shift+LOOP button loops 4 bars
- UNDO is panic button (turn MIDI notes off)
Playback Display
During playback, you will see the chords (and/or lyrics) to the song, scrolling along in time to the music. For example, you
might see this…
*5| D | D7 |
7| G | Gm
The * marks the current bar (bar 5), which is a D chord. The screen always scrolls to show you 2 bars ahead of the current time.
TranzPort Dialog

There is a TranzPort Settings dialog inside Band-in-a-Box with additional settings.

Enable TranzPort support for Band-in-a-Box in this dialog.
If you want lyrics to display on the TranzPort during playback, set these
options.
Players of non-concert pitched instruments can use “Transpose the display.”
For example, an Alto sax player would press the “Eb Alto” button, and then the
TranzPort display would show chords transposed to his key.

BB Remote
Remote control for desktop Band-in-a-Box for Windows®
BB Remote is an app for your iPhone. It is used as a remote control to control your existing desktop version of Band-in-a-Box
2011.5 or higher. The sounds will come out of the desktop program, not the iPhone. You must have the desktop version of
Band-in-a-Box 2011.5 to use the program at all.
Note: There is another application for iPhone that we make, called Band-in-a-Box for iPhone that lets you generate new songs – with the
sound coming from the iPhone - and it isn’t a remote control like this one. More about Band-in-a-Box for iPhone at pgmusic.com/help100.
If you use Band-in-a-Box for Windows®, you may want to be somewhere else other than sitting at your PC as you play songs.
For example, you might want to sit at the piano, or at your music stand, or be sitting on the couch with your guitar in hand.
The BB Remote app installs to your iPhone (via the iPhone app store), and then connects to the desktop version of Band-in-a-
Box 2011.5.
Note: To allow BB Remote to connect, make sure that Band-in-a-Box Server is running on your desktop Windows® PC. You need to have a
program called C:\bb\bbhelper\BandInABoxServer.exe running. If it is running, you will see a musical note icon on your Windows® system tray
in the right lower corner of the Windows® taskbar. You can run or install the server from the main Band-in-a-Box Windows® program, using
the menu item Windows | BB2Go. You need to have BandInABoxServer.exe running in the system tray- see pgmusic.com/help102 for details.
The BB Remote app has different screens, accessible by swiping the screen to the left or right.

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BB Remote - Chords View (Main Screen) BB Remote - Conductor

The Chords view lets you see the chords of the song, and the This allows fine control of playback, including jumping to
current bar of the song highlights during playback. For example, sections, choruses, # bars etc. and looping.
you could be seated at your piano, far from the desktop PC, and
be loading in and playing songs, with the sound coming from
your desktop PC, but you see the chords and current bar on the
iPhone.
BB Remote - Mixer BB Remote - Patch Selection

The Mixer window of BB Remote for iPhone allows you to The patch selection window of BB Remote for iPhone
mute/solo or adjust volumes, panning, reverb, tone, or patches of allows you to view or select patches. If you press play
the desktop program in real time. again, the changed patches will sound in the song.

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BB Remote - File Menu BB Remote - Server Connect Window

Band-in-a-Box for iPhone

Band-in-a-Box for iPhone (BB iPhone) is an app for iOS devices including iPhone®, iPad®, and iPod Touch®. The BB iPhone
version is meant to function as a client to the regular Band-in-a-Box desktop version. If you don’t own a copy of the BB
Desktop software, the usefulness of the BB iPhone version will be quite limited.
Band-in-a-Box for iPhone is available from the Apple® App Store, https://www.apple.com/iphone/apps-for-iphone/.
If you have a copy of Band-in-a-Box 2011 or higher, then with the Band-in-a-Box iPhone version you can:
- Quickly transfer your existing library of songs from BB Desktop to BB iPhone, including chord lead sheets and audio (M4A).
See the chord lead sheets and play the songs anytime on your iPhone, without re-connecting to BB Desktop.
- Enter songs from scratch on your BB iPhone by typing in chord symbols to the song.
- Generate audio on your BB iPhone for the songs by pressing play. The songs play on the iPhone and are stored on the iPhone
as M4A files. This connects across your home network or the internet to your desktop version of Band-in-a-Box
- Send songs from BB iPhone to BB Desktop.
Here are some typical uses for your BB iPhone version. This assumes that you have the BB Desktop version:
- Jim has entered lots of songs over the years into his BB Desktop version. He now wants to practice his guitar playing on these
tunes using only his BB iPhone. As a one-time procedure, at home (over his home network WiFi) he first transfers his entire
song library to BB iPhone, including lead sheets and audio. This takes about 10 seconds per song. Now he has his BB song
library on his BB iPhone and doesn’t need to connect to his BB Desktop again (unless he wants more songs, or to generate
different chords for the songs). He plays the songs on his iPhone, either using the iPhone speakers, headphones, or plugging
the iPhone line out into his stereo system. He will only ever need to connect to BB Desktop again if he wants to get more
songs, or regenerate them in different styles etc.
- Joan is playing a solo vocal gig, using BB iPhone as her backup band. She connects the iPhone audio out to the PA system. A
customer requests one of her compositions, a song that she knows, but doesn’t have a backing band arrangement for. On her
break, she types in the chords to the song, presses PLAY, and the audio file generates and is ready to play on her BB iPhone
(by connecting to BB Desktop over the Internet). After the gig, she sends the song to her BB Desktop, so that is available there
too as part of her song library.
BB2Go Dialog
The iPhone version of Band-in-a-Box will see the BB2Go folder (C:\bb\BB2Go). Any Band-in-a-Box songs that you put in this
folder are visible to the BB iPhone. You can send files back and forth from BB iPhone to Band-in-a-Box for Windows®, and the
files go to the BB2Go folder.
You can add audio to the Band-in-a-Box files in the BB2Go folder from the Band-in-a-Box Windows menu with the BB2Go
command and select the files that you want to have MP4/M4A audio added. You can also generate the audio from the iPhone
version.

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 Note: If you are using Windows® XP or Vista, these features require Apple® QuickTime® Library for Windows® to be installed, which you can
download from www.apple.com.
More documentation for the BB iPhone version is available at https://www.pgmusic.com/help100/.

Use the [Refresh] button to refresh the list when additional files have been added externally.
You can use the Filter to search the songs for a particular word or term.
The [Clear] button removes the search term.
Generate mp4 file(s): There are three options for generating mp4 files for the iPhone. [For selected song] generates an mp4
file for the selected song, you can then send the Band-in-a-Box song and the mp4 to iPhone BB using the Band-in-a-Box
service. [For all songs in folder of selected song] generates mp4 files for all songs in the same folder as the selected song.
When generated, the files will be green in the list, indicating that mp4 audio is present. [For All Song in current list] generates
mp4 files for all songs in the BB2Go folder (C:\bb\BB2Go). It takes about 1 minute per song, then you can send the songs and
the mp4 audio to the iPhone.
The [Open Explorer BB2Go Folder] button opens the C:\bb\BB2Go folder in Windows® Explorer. You can add files to the
folder in Explorer and then press [Refresh] to see them in this dialog.
The [Open this song in BB] button opens the currently highlighted song in Band-in-a-Box.
Band-in-a-Box Service: Band-in-a-Box Service is the program that connects your iPhone over the Internet to Band-in-a-Box. It
is located in the C:\bb\BBHelper folder.
When the server is running you will see this button in the Windows® system tray. Right-click on the button to open the
menu of server commands and click Show to access the Options and set the password and server name.
Use the buttons to run, auto-run, and install the service.

Program Tutorial
Instructions for using Band-in-a-Box iPhone version
Run the BB iPhone program by clicking on the icon. You will then see the Band-in-a-Box screen. This consists of:
- Top Toolbar area (File Mixer Settings Play/Stop Chord Keyboard).
- Title display line.
- Chords area.

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If you want to edit information in a song, press the Chord Keyboard icon. This will open the Chord Keyboard and a “Song
Parameters” section at the top to choose style, tempo and song form.
Let’s open and play an existing song.
Press FILE and then OPEN. You will then see a list of the demo songs that are included with BB iPhone. You should see “Blues
Shuffle Demo” and “Jazz Swing Demo.” You will notice that these file names are in green. The green indicates that audio
(M4A) is available for these songs, and they are “ready-to-play” and don’t have to be re-generated.
Choose “Jazz Swing Demo.” This song was previously generated using BB iPhone, and the arrangement was made entirely
from the chord progression. The arrangement sounds realistic because it is using the high quality RealTracks present in Band-in-
a-Box.
Press the Green PLAY button. (Note: If the play button is Red, it indicates that the song will need to be generated, by
connecting to BB Desktop).
Press STOP at any time.
Let’s enter our own song from scratch.
We will enter a simple blues progression, which is 12 bars long, in the key of C.
Press File and then NEW.
Open the Chord Keyboard, so that the song is editable.
Choose a style for the song. Press the Style button (at the left of the screen, below the title), then choose the genre Blues, and
select the style _BLSHUFF (Blues Shuffle) which is the 3rd one on the list.
Leave the tempo at the default of 140 (or change it by clicking on it).
Leave the key signature at C (or change it by clicking on it).
The song formula will say something like [1] [16] [3]. That means the song form begins at bar 1, and ends at bar 16, and
repeats 3 times. Since this is a 12-bar blues (not 16 bars), we click on the “16” and change it to 12. We can leave the number of
repeats of the form at 3 (or change it by clicking on it).
Type in the chords. Click on bar 1 on the chord sheet. Then use the chord keyboard to type in a chord. To move to a new bar,
click on the bar so that the highlight bar moves to that bar. Once you are in the bar, type the chord on the chord keyboard.
Type “C” in bar 1.
Type “F” in bar 5.
Type “C” in bar 7.
Type “G7” in bar 9 - do this by typing “G” and then “7.”
Type “F7” in bar 10.
Type “C” in bar 11.
Enter a title for your song. Call it “My Blues” and then save it by choosing File-Save.
That’s it! You’ve entered your first song.
Close the Chords Keyboard window.
Now to hear your song, you are going to need to be connected to your Band-in-a-Box Desktop version.
Connecting to the BB Desktop Version
Since the song has not been generated yet, the PLAY button will be RED, indicating that the song audio needs to be generated.
Press the red Play button, and this will launch the Server Connection dialog. Here you will either enter the IP that is displayed
from your home network (if BB Desktop is on the same home network as your iPhone), or your IP address of your BB Desktop
version (or router). Details of router setup are available on the File-Help menu.
Once you have entered the Server IP, then press OK, and then enter the password (the default password is admin, so if you
haven’t changed it, that will work).
You will then see “Loading styles” … this only happens when it is a new connection, and BB desktop is telling BB iPhone what
styles are available.
After that, you will see “Generating song” and then “Downloading file.” After a wait of 15-30 seconds, your song will start
playing. Press STOP to stop the song. At this point, the song “My Blues” now has audio saved with it and will be ready to play
next time without connecting to the BB Desktop version.
Let’s get an existing song from the BB Desktop version.
Press File and then Server, then “Get Song(s).” You will then see a list of the songs that are available on the BB Desktop
program (i.e., the songs present in the BB2Go folder inside the BB folder).
Choose a song, and then press DOWNLOAD. This will download the song. Press PLAY to generate it and hear it.
That concludes the tutorial.

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 Chapter 14: User Programmable Functions
The StyleMaker
The StyleMaker is the section of the program that allows you to create brand-new styles or edit existing styles. This is done by
recording patterns for each of the drums, bass, piano, guitar and strings tracks, or by entering these tracks in the StyleMaker
Pattern Editor Notation window. If you don’t want an instrument in a style you don’t need to record any patterns for it.
The StyleMaker window is accessed by pressing the [StyleMaker] toolbar button on the main screen and selecting the
Edit current style in Stylemaker menu command.
The window is also accessible from the File | StyleMaker menu by choosing any one of:
- New – Make a New Style to create an entirely new style from a blank template.
- Edit a Style (Alt+F9 keys) to open any style for editing.
- Edit Current Style (Ctrl+Shift+F9 keys) to open the current style in use for editing.

StyleMaker Pull-Down Menus

The StyleMaker has a separate pull-down menu to the main program. Many of the menu commands can be accessed directly
with the on-screen buttons in the StyleMaker window.
File
Save Style (F2) Saves the style, using the current style name. This will overwrite a previous style!
Save Style As (Alt+F2) This saves the style, allowing you to rename the style if desired.
Exit (Alt+F4) Exits the StyleMaker, prompting you to Save the Style. If you don’t save the style upon exit you
will lose any changes that you’ve made.
Edit
Cut Pattern Cuts whichever pattern is highlighted in a row.
Copy Pattern Copies a pattern to the clipboard.
Paste Pastes a single pattern from the clipboard. Can paste between styles by opening and closing styles
and copying and pasting.
Delete Pattern (Delete) Erases a Pattern. Can also delete a Pattern by typing a weight of 0.
Cut from Notation Highlight and cut notes from a pattern.
Copy from Notation Highlight and copy notes in a pattern.
Paste from Notation Paste notes into a pattern.
Pattern
Play Pattern (F4) Plays the pattern using the currently selected style. Loops after 2 bars. If you want to play the song
while the StyleMaker is open, you need to press the PLAY button on the Main screen, as the F4
key will not play the song, it will play the StyleMaker pattern.
Play Pattern on Chord This plays back a pattern as it would sound in a song on a certain chord. This is useful to see the
(F8) effects of smooth voice leading or macro notes in a pattern.
Record Pattern (F3) Records a pattern. For drums it enters the STEP EDIT Drum Editor. For the other instruments, it
starts a real time record (2-bar leadin then record 2-bar pattern).
Options (F10) Allows you to set or change options (masks) for a specific pattern. This same dialog also appears at
the end of recording a pattern.
Quantize Pattern Quantifies a pattern to a given resolution. You can apply a percentage setting to adjust the
(Alt+Q) “strength” of the quantization.
Slide Pattern This time shifts the pattern X ticks (120 ticks per beat).
Volume adjust (this The Pattern | Volume adjust (this pattern) command displays the average velocity (volume) of the
pattern) pattern and lets you set a new volume. Styles sound smoother if all patterns of one instrument are at
(Ctrl+Alt+W) similar volumes.

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Volume adjust (this row) Pattern | Volume adjust (this row) sets the volume of all patterns in the selected row.
(Alt+V)
Volume Adjust (all You can quickly set the volume for an entire instrument by using the Pattern | Volume Adjust (all
patterns) (Alt+J) patterns) command. For example, if the strings are too loud, turn the [Strings] button “on,” select
Volume Adjust (all patterns), then type a number from 0 to 127 lower than the number that is
currently displayed.
Legato Adjust This adjusts the legato of each note. Units are 120 ticks/beat. Legato is the length of each note.
Useful if you find a pattern that’s too percussive or too legato.
Transpose Pattern This transposes the pattern X semitones. For example, +12 would transpose the pattern one octave
up.
Trim Pattern This deletes notes from the end of a Pattern.
Velocity Adjust This function adds or reduces the velocity of a single pattern, row of patterns, or all patterns in an
instrument. Choose the menu items for 1 pattern, 1 row, or the whole instrument and input the
velocity change to make for the pattern(s). This will add or subtract a certain velocity value to the
patterns, useful for reducing or increasing the volume of an entire instrument or fine-tuning the
velocities in a style.
When adjusting velocities, When this menu item is selected, only the MIDI note number that is specified will have its velocity
use a single note only adjusted, unless a note number of 0 is entered. If the note number is entered as 0 then all notes in
the pattern(s) will have their velocity adjusted.
Import Pattern This allows you to import pattern(s) from the Melody track, MIDI file, or MIDI data on the
- from MIDI File clipboard. The dialog that appears allows you to select the # of patterns you want to import.
- from Clipboard Normally this will be one. If it is more than one (say, 4), then 4 consecutive patterns would be
- from Melody imported on to the current row of the StyleMaker.
Style
Patch Assignments Assign patches to a style. See Patch Assignment dialog.
(Alt+F10)
Misc. Settings Assign miscellaneous settings to a style. See Misc. Settings dialog.
(Ctrl+F10)
Next Instrument (F6) Changes the instrument setting between Drums/ Bass/ Piano/ Guitar/ Strings.
Previous Instrument
(Shift+F6)
Import Instr. from Style Import an instrument from one style into another. See Import Instrument dialog.
(Alt +F3)
Import Drums from Since you can define a custom drum kit for the grid editor, this function allows you to use the
.MID to Drum Kit instruments that are found in a MIDI file. A quick way of building up a kit. For example, if you are
making a Latin style called “mambo” you could load in a Mambo MIDI file that you made, and
then the StyleMaker’s “Style | Import notes from .MID to Drum Grid…” menu command would
extract the drum notes from the MIDI file and put them on the drum grid.
Define a Custom Drum Since the Drum Grid Editor uses 19 instruments, this allows you to define which instruments will
Kit be used and create a custom drum kit.
Copy all “a” substyle Copies all “a” substyle patterns to “b” slots. This feature is handy when only a volume increase
patterns to “b” tweaking is required for the “b” substyle.
Copy Current Row to Copies an entire row of patterns to the new row specified.
Row ___
Delete all Patterns in Deletes all of the patterns in the selected row.
this Row
Delete Instrument (all Completely removes the selected instrument from the style leaving rows of blank cells in the
patterns, all rows for StyleMaker grid. This function is handy if you need to remove an instrument from a style.
this instrument)
Style Checker Analogous to a “Spell Checker,” this function analyzes your style-in-progress and identifies
possible problems.
The Style Checker results are output to a text window, allowing you to examine the patterns and fix them if required. It
identifies patterns that might be “too busy” or incorrect macro notes etc. in a text report about the style, listing possible
problems with the style. Here is a sample printout.
-----Start of style checking ------JAZQUINT.STY
Drums: Row 1, Column 1 First pattern of instrument shouldn’t contain masks in it. It should be generic.

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Bass: Row 1, Column 1 First pattern of instrument shouldn’t contain masks in it. It should be generic.
Piano: Row 1, Column 3 Non Chord tones found (other than C, E, G, Bb) and pattern is not set to a chord mask, riff based or
MACRO
…etc., etc.
-----end of style checking ------
Style Summary This displays a text window summary of the style, including lots of information about the style such as
# patterns, # patterns for each substyle, patches, pushes, volume changes, guitar patterns, and more.

Add required 8 beat Styles must have some 8-beat patterns and at least one “a” substyle pattern if “b” substyle patterns are
and blank patterns present. This will create them by duplicating lower rows.

Flip current Swaps the “a” substyle and “b” substyle patterns for the current instrument.
instrument

Flip entire style Swaps the “a” substyle and “b” substyle patterns for the entire style.

Set embellish … Opens options for embellishing the currently selected instrument part. Embellish does not apply to bass
current instrument and drums.

Set embellish …all Opens options for embellishing all Piano, Guitar, and Strings parts. Embellish does not apply to bass
Piano/Guitar/Strings and drums.

Reduce style (to 16th For styles that you want to reduce from 8th notes to 16th notes, e.g., an 8th note style at a tempo of 260
notes) to a 16th note style at a tempo of 130.

Expand style (to 8th To expand a 16th note style to 8th notes, e.g., a 16th note style at a tempo of 130 into an 8th note style
notes) at a tempo of 260.

Help
These menu items are quick links to the main Help and to StyleMaker topics in particular.
Index (F1)
Topic Search (Ctrl+F1)
StyleMaker Overview
Tutorial 5 Editing an Existing Style
Tutorial 6 Making a New Style
Drum Patterns
Bass Patterns
Piano/Guitar/String Patterns
How To (Shift+F1)
StyleMaker Toolbar Buttons
These options are also available from the StyleMaker window pull-down menus.
Saves and overwrites existing style using current name.
Saves the style but allows you to rename it first.
Plays the current pattern.
Stops the playback of the current pattern.
Plays the current pattern over a specific chord.
(Drum Grid Editor) Allows creation or editing of a drum grid pattern.

(Record) Begins live recording of a Bass/Piano/Guitar/Strings pattern after a 2-bar intro.

(Notation) Displays current pattern in notation, allowing editing of pattern in notation.

(Options) Allows setting of options for the current pattern.

(Quantize) Increases or decreases note durations for the pattern.
(Volume) Assign instruments to the style.
(Legato) Overall style settings including master volumes.

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 (Patch) Assign instruments to the style.
(Miscellaneous) Miscellaneous settings for the style.
Plays the current song using the new style you’re making.
Exits the StyleMaker and closes the window.
A right-click menu has options to Play Pattern, Play Pattern on Chord, or
Mute Pattern.

Exploring the StyleMaker

To become familiar with the StyleMaker, it is easiest to begin with an existing style and examine its makeup. This example
uses ZZLITROK.STY, a basic Light Rock style. Patterns are played back from the main StyleMaker screen.

The StyleMaker displays current patch numbers for the parts on the main window.

Band-in-a-Box StyleMaker window showing Drums patterns

The StyleMaker always opens to the Drums window, as indicated by the highlighted button to the left of Drums. Other parts
are selected by clicking on their buttons, just as in the main Band-in-a-Box screen.
The rows of cells are for the musical patterns that have been recorded for the style. Each numbered cell is a pattern; the blank
cells are for new patterns. The numbers are the weights assigned to the pattern, a higher number, or weight, means that a pattern
will be played more often. The average weight is 5.
In the example above, you will notice that there are 4 rows of drum patterns.
- A pattern is the row to record drum patterns for the A substyle.
- B pattern is the row to record for the B substyle.
- Drum fills are recorded on the drum fills row.
- End drums are ending patterns (2 consecutive patterns of 1 bar).
This style shown has nine drum patterns for its “a” substyle, and eight more for the “b” substyle variation. It also has eight drum
fills and four ending patterns.
What’s a pattern?
A pattern is one musical figure, a single element of a musical style. When Band-in-a-Box combines the various note patterns
into arrangements we hear what the different instrumentalists would play for a song in that style.
Drum Patterns
In our example, the drum patterns are what the drummer plays for a Light Rock song.
You can view any drum pattern in the row if you click on the box and then on the drum grid button to open the Drum
Pattern Editor.
The Drum Pattern Editor grid shows which drums in an 18-piece kit are being played on what beats and with what velocity
(force) they are being hit. Each group of columns separated by a vertical line represents one beat in a four-beat bar, sub-divided
into 16th notes. If there was a number in each cell across the row for any instrument, that instrument would play sixteenth notes
for the whole bar.
In a swing style each beat would be sub-divided into eighth-note triplets, with three columns to a beat.
Let’s examine the pattern in detail.

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The highlighted cell shows that the Bass Drum is being played on beat 1 at a velocity of 83. (The loudest possible note has a
velocity of 127, while 0 is silent.) Moving to the right, you will see that the Bass Drum plays again on the second eighth note of
beat 2 with a velocity of 73, and then on beat 3 with a velocity of 93, the familiar “boom-ba-boom” Pop/ Bossa Nova beat.
The Closed High Hat plays straight eighth notes at different velocities.
The Snare Drum plays on beats 2 and 4 in a typical Light Rock backbeat.
You can easily create new patterns of your own by selecting an empty box in a row of patterns and then clicking the [Rec]
button to open a blank Drum Pattern Editor grid. To hear the pattern you have made, click on the [Play] button. Click on the
[Help] button for more tips and details.

Defining a Custom Drum Kit

To set up a custom drum kit, select the menu item Style | Define Custom Drum Kit in the StyleMaker window to launch the
Define Custom Drum Kit dialog. You can choose the 18 drum instruments to be used on the drum grid. Any of the GM
instruments may be chosen. Kits may be saved and loaded to disk.

In defining a custom drum kit in the StyleMaker, you can use the drum notes found in a MIDI file. For example, if you are
making a Latin style called “mambo,” you could load in a Mambo MIDI file that you made, and then the [Import notes from
.MID] function would extract the drum notes from the MIDI file and put them on the drum grid.
Drum Screen Alternate Notes
What are alternate notes?
Alternate notes can be entered for any note. This tells Band-in-a-Box to randomly choose a different note to the one specified.
For example:
- You might want a note to be a closed high hat 80% of the time, and an open high hat 20% of the time.
- You might want a note to be high conga 60% and low conga 40% of the time.
- Or high tom 30% of the time and NO note the other 70%.
This allows one drum pattern to sound like many, because it will be played different ways depending on which of the notes are
picked.

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How To Put In An Alternate Note
Click on the cell in the Drum Pattern Editor where you want to add an alternate note. Then press the [Alt.] button or press the
F5 key to open the Alternate Drum Note dialog.
Type in the #s as you see here.
- The Alternate will play 50% of the time.
- The Alternate note #4 is Open High Hat (you will see the list of note #s at the side of the screen.
- The Alternate note will play at a velocity of 90.
Check the “Double note (32nd note)” checkbox to have the alternate note play as a doubled 32nd
note.
“Omit first note” works together with the Double note feature to play only the second 32nd note.
When you exit the dialog, you will see that the note cell now has a red border indicating that an alternate note
is located there.
Tip: All Band-in-a-Box styles must have at least one drum pattern, even if there are no drums in the style. In that case, open the Drum Grid
Editor and enter a value of 0 on beat 1 of the pattern for any drum and then save the pattern.
Click on the [Exit] button to return to the Drum window.
The Drum Pattern Options dialog will open. These options determine how and when an individual drum pattern gets played.

Relative Weight: (Usual Setting =5) Relative Weight is the number that you assign to
the pattern from 1-9. Numbers from 1-8 indicate how often you want the pattern to be
played in relation to the other patterns on the same row. A weight of 9 is a special
setting that ensures that the pattern will ALWAYS be played. Patterns assigned a
weight of 9 usually have other options set which instruct the pattern to only be played at
certain times (bar after a drum fill for example).
Playback Bar Mask: (Usual Setting =0) Playback Bar Mask determines on what bars of the song the pattern will play. The bar
numbers are counted relative to the last part marker. Bar 1 is the first bar after a part marker for example. A bar mask setting of
0 is the default. This lets the pattern be played at any time.
Other bar mask settings:
- Bar 1 of 4
- Bar 2 of 4
- Bar 3 of 4
- Bar 4 of 4
- Bar 5 of 8
- Bar 6 of 8
- Bar 7 of 8
- Bar 8 of 8
- pre-fill - refers to the bar before a fill
- fill - refers to the bar of a fill. This is not applicable to drums because there is a special row for drum fills.
- post-fill - refers to the bar after a fill, which is the same as the first bar after a part marker.
Drum Fill On Substyle: (Usual Setting =0) This setting is only relevant on the Drum Fills line. It lets you specify if you want
the drum fill to be used on the “a” substyle, the “b” substyle, or either. The default setting is “either.”
Late Triplets: (Usual Setting =0) This is only relevant in drum patterns with time base =12 (triplet feel). If you want the 3rd
triplet to be played late, as is usually done in slow jazz styles, then set a number from 0-10. The default is 0 = not late at all. A
typical setting for a slow triplet style is triplets late =5 where one unit is 120/beat.
This type of pattern is found in earlier Band-in-a-Box styles. Later styles use live MIDI drums, which are edited as notation. The
same options are used.
Editing Live Drums Patterns (or patterns imported from a MIDI file)
Live drum patterns are recorded in real time from a MIDI controller - either MIDI drum pads or a velocity sensitive MIDI
keyboard. You can also import MIDI patterns from any standard MIDI file with the StyleMaker’s Pattern | Import Pattern from
MIDI file command.
To edit these patterns, press the notation button in the StyleMaker toolbar to open the Pattern Editor Notation window.
Edit the drum notes in the Editable Notation or Staff Roll view, just as you would edit regular notation.

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RealDrums Styles
RealDrums are actual recordings of studio drummers, pieced together by Band-in-a-Box to create a unique “real” drum track
that is played along with the MIDI tracks created by Band-in-a-Box styles.
It is possible to assign RealDrums (audio drums) to a particular Band-in-a-Box style in the Misc. Style Settings dialog.

RealDrums Settings (Audio Drums, instead of MIDI drums)

Enable “Style uses RealDrums (audio drums)” in order to designate a RealDrums style, and then press the [RD] button to select
your RealDrums style. Whenever the current style is played, it will use your RealDrums style provided that RealDrums are
enabled in the RealDrums Settings dialog. There are also additional volume controls here.
To make your overall dB setting a bit higher or lower for this particular Band-in-a-Box style you can enter a setting here. There
are also fields for adjusting the “a” or “b” subsection volumes only.
If you remove the check mark from either “Allow “a” substyle RealDrums” or “Allow “b” substyle RealDrums” the one with
the checkmark remaining will be used for the entire song, regardless of what substyle is currently called for in the song.
See the following tutorial on Making RealDrums Styles.
Bass Patterns
Click on the button to the left of Bass to open the bass pattern window. Notice that the status bar gives the Row and Column
number for the current pattern.

You will see that this window is different from the Drums window, it has rows for different lengths of patterns – 8 beat, 4 beat,
2 beat and 1 beat – for both the A and B substyles, and a row for endings.

To see a bass pattern, select any numbered box and click on the notation button. The StyleMaker Pattern Editor will open,
showing the selected pattern as notation.
Click on this button to enter the Editable Notation mode. In this mode notes can be edited, added, or deleted as in the regular
notation

A new pattern can be created by selecting an empty cell in the StyleMaker grid and then opening the StyleMaker Pattern Editor
window to enter notes with your mouse. A quicker way to make a new pattern is to record it live from a MIDI keyboard or any
other MIDI controller that is connected to your computer.
Recording a New Pattern
New patterns are recorded by playing them live in real time as the StyleMaker plays an accompaniment on the drums and other
instrument parts for the style. If you don’t want to hear other tracks - say you just want to play along to the drums – any track
can be muted with a right-click on the track name in the Band-in-a-Box main screen.
Go to the correct row for the length of the pattern you want to record (8 beat, 4 beat, etc.) and click on an empty cell. Recording
is started with the [Rec] button. When it is clicked, the drums and any other tracks that are present will start to play but
recording has not begun.

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The StyleMaker gives you a 2-bar intro to get ready to record the new pattern, so you can play along with the intro for a “flying
start” or just use the 2 bars to count yourself in. Recording then begins and continues for another 2 bars, no matter what length
of pattern you are recording. If you are just recording a 4-beat pattern you will still hear the 2-bar intro and then another 2 bars
of accompaniment while the pattern records. You would just play your 4-beat pattern and then wait until recording stops.
Tip: Remember that patterns can be edited in the StyleMaker Pattern Editor, so you don’t have to redo an otherwise good take because of a
small mistake.
Bass Pattern Options
When recording stops, the Bass Pattern Options dialog opens. The options determine how and when each individual Bass
pattern gets played. They can always be changed after the style has been saved.
Click OK to save the pattern with the default options. Click Cancel to erase the take and record the pattern again.
To hear the pattern you have just recorded, click on the [Play] button or, better yet, click on the [Chord] button in the
StyleMaker toolbar to hear how it sounds playing different chords.

Relative Weight: (Usual Setting = 5) Set this higher/lower if you want the pattern
to be played more/less often than the other patterns on the same row. This number
is also displayed on the main StyleMaker screen. A setting of 9 (always) is a special
setting that instructs the pattern to always be played instead of the other patterns on
the same row. These patterns always have other options set which specify the times
that this pattern would be eligible to be played.
Playback Bar Mask: (Usual Setting = 0) Playback Bar Mask determines on what bars of the song the pattern will play. The bar
numbers are counted relative to the last part marker and range from 1-8. Bar 1 is the first bar after a part marker for example.
Other bar mask settings:
- Bar 1 of 4
- Bar 2 of 4
- Bar 3 of 4
- Bar 4 of 4
- Bar 5 of 8
- Bar 6 of 8
- Bar 7 of 8
- Bar 8 of 8
Special Bar Masks:
- pre-fill - refers to the bar before a fill
- fill - refers to the bar of a fill (this allows you to put in “bass fills” for example)
- post-fill - refers to the bar after a fill, which is the same as the first bar after a part marker.
Playback Beat Mask: (Usual Setting = 0) Set the beat mask to a beat from 1-4 if you want the pattern to only be played on
certain beat numbers. 1= Beat 1, 2= Beat 2, 3= Beat 3, 4= Beat 4.
Roman Numeral Mask: (Usual Setting = 0) If you have a pattern that should only be played on the I chord or the IV chord (of
the key), you can use these Roman Numeral Masks. This setting is rarely used.
Chord Type: (Usual Setting = Any) This setting is very useful. This allows you to record patterns that will only work on certain
types of chords. For example, you can record a specific riff that will only work on a minor 7th chord. You then play the pattern
on a Cmin 7 (not a C7). There are chord types for most types of chords.
Interval To Next: (Usual Setting = Any Interval) This setting allows you to restrict the pattern to be played only if the next
chord is a certain interval away. For example, you can record a bass pattern that is walking up a fourth and then assign an
Interval of Up 4th so that the pattern would only be played if you’re going up a 4th.
Half Octave range: (Usual Setting = Full Octave) This is a new setting in the StyleMaker. Usually, a pattern will be picked on
any of the 12 roots. You can select a smaller range, either A to D, or Eb to Ab. In this case the pattern would only be picked if
the chord in the song is in that range.
Play Pattern Pushed how often / # Ticks to Push Pattern: (Usual Setting = 0) Pushed patterns are patterns that are played
before the chord begins. Jazz styles typically use pushed patterns for the piano. Patterns are recorded in the normal way (non-

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pushed) and then you assign the % of time and amount (in ticks, 120 ticks = 1 beat) to push the pattern. The pattern only plays
pushed in the song, not when played in the StyleMaker window.
OK to use Macro Notes: (Bass Usual Setting = No) Bass macros are special notes that you record. When they are played back,
they are replaced by a function.
List of Bass Macro Notes
Note# 72 (C): Pop Walking Note(s). Playback with the [F8] key and note #72 will be replaced by up to 4 intelligent notes per
pattern walking in a Pop/Country mode to the next chord.
Note# 76 (E): Note a semitone below root of next chord.
Note# 77 (F): Root of next chord.
Note # 78 (F#): Note a semitone ABOVE root of next chord.
Note # 79 (G): Best fifth (a fifth above or below the root depending on how high the root is. Stays on the root if in a slash chord
(C7 /E).
Remember that to get Bass Macros working you must:
- Hit the right note # (you may be out by an octave).
- Set “OK to use macros” to Yes.
- Playback the Pattern with F8 key or [Chord] button. The F4 playback key gives you a literal playback with strange sounding
high macro notes.
Chord Selection Dialog
This section is accessed by the [Chord] button, the F8 key or by choosing
Pattern | Play Pattern on Chord from the pull-down menu.
This plays back a pattern on a specific chord that you choose in either the key of
C or the key of F. You can hear what patterns will sound like in a style by “trying
them out” on certain songs. Macro notes recorded in a pattern will play their
corresponding chords; smooth voice leading is demonstrated etc.
Just choose a chord and press OK.
Note: Does not apply to drum patterns, since drum patterns don’t play any differently on
different chords.

Piano, Guitar, and String Patterns

Piano, Guitar, and Strings patterns are recorded in the same way as live Drums or Bass patterns, but with added features and
options. Guitar styles can be created with authentic strumming and rhythm patterns using correct fret positions.
Piano/Guitar String Pattern Options dialog
The StyleMaker shows summary information about non-default settings in a pattern at
the top title bar, so they are easy to spot.

Relative Weight: (Usual Setting = 5) Set this higher/lower

if you want the pattern to be played more/less often than
the other patterns on the same row. This number is also
displayed on the main StyleMaker screen. A setting of 9
(always) is a special setting that instructs the pattern to
always be played instead of the other patterns on the same
row. These patterns always have other options set which
specify the times that this pattern would be eligible to be
played.
Playback Bar Mask: (Usual Setting =0) Playback Bar Mask determines on what bars of the song the pattern will play. The bar
numbers are counted relative to the last part marker, and range from 1-8. Bar 1 is the first bar after a part marker for example.
Other bar mask settings:
- Bar 1 of 4
- Bar 2 of 4
- Bar 3 of 4

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- Bar 4 of 4
- Bar 5 of 8
- Bar 6 of 8
- Bar 7 of 8
- Bar 8 of 8
Special Bar Masks:
- pre-fill - refers to the bar before a fill
- fill - refers to the bar of a fill (this allows you to put in “bass fills” for example)
- post-fill - refers to the bar after a fill, which is the same as the first bar after a part marker.
Playback Beat Mask: (Usual Setting = 0) Set the beat mask to a beat from 1-4 if you want the pattern to only be played on
certain beat numbers. 1= Beat 1, 2= Beat 2, 3= Beat 3, 4= Beat 4.
Roman Numeral Mask: (Usual Setting = 0) If you have a pattern that should only be played on the I chord or the IV chord (of
the key), you can use these Roman Numeral Masks. This setting is rarely used.
Chord Type: (Usual Setting = Any) This setting is very useful because it allows you to record patterns that will only work on
certain types of chords. For example, you can record a specific riff that will only work on a minor 7th chord. You then play the
pattern on a Cmin 7, not a C7. There are chord types for most types of chords.
Interval To Next Chord: (Usual Setting = Any Interval) This setting allows you to restrict the pattern to be played only if the
next chord is a certain interval away. For example, you can record a bass pattern that is walking up a fourth and then assign an
Interval of Up 4th so that the pattern would only be played if you’re going up a 4th.
Half Octave Range: (Usual Setting = Full Octave) Usually a pattern will be picked on any of the 12 roots. You can select a
smaller range, either A to D or Eb to Ab. In this case the pattern would only be picked if the chord in the song is in that range.
Play Pattern Pushed – how often / # Ticks to push pattern: (Usual Setting = 0) Pushed patterns are patterns that are played
before the chord begins. Jazz styles typically use pushed patterns for the piano. Patterns are recorded in the normal way (non-
pushed) and then you assign the % of time and amount (in ticks, 120 ticks = 1 beat) to push the pattern. The pattern only plays
pushed in the song, not when played in the StyleMaker window.
OK to use Macro Notes: (Usual Setting = No) Piano Macros are special notes that you record. When they are played back they
are replaced by a function, as listed below.
List of Piano Macro Notes (same as Guitar/String macro notes)
MIDI Note # 83 B: Pop Chord Diatonic Below
MIDI Note # 84 C: Pop Chord
MIDI Note # 85 C#: Pop Chord Diatonic Above
MIDI Note # 88 E: Jazz Chord Chromatic Below
MIDI Note # 89 F: Jazz Chord
MIDI Note # 90 F#: Jazz Chord Chromatic Above
Remember that to get macro notes working you must:
- Hit the right note # (you may be out by an octave).
- Set “OK to use macros” to Yes.
- Playback the pattern with [F8] key or [Chord] button. The F4 playback key gives you a literal playback with strange
sounding high macro notes.
Check Use Guitar Macros to enable guitar macro notes for this pattern.
Click on the [Guitar Options] button to specify guitar macro note parameters.
Transpose Root Pattern: (Usual Setting = No) This is a rarely used setting. It only is relevant when voice leading is set to
smooth. It determines where the center of the pattern is considered to be. If set to “Yes,” the center of the pattern will be moved
to the key of the song.
Embellish Pattern: (Usual Setting = None) If set to “embellish 1” the pattern will be embellished. This is useful in Jazz styles.
“Embellish 1” embellishes the chord once in the pattern, whereas “embellish 2” changes the embellishment during the pattern.
Transpose Down Limit: (Usual Setting = 6) This setting is quite useful. It controls the range that the pattern will be played
over. For example, if the transpose down range is set to =2 the pattern (recorded in C) will be transposed a maximum of 2
semitones down, and therefore up to 10 semitones up to play all 12 possible roots of the chords.
Voice Leading: (Usual Setting=Transpose) The easiest type of voice leading is transpose only. If the notes C-E-G-Bb were
played as a C7 pattern, then Band-in-a-Box would transpose that voicing to an F7 chord as F-A-C-Eb, which is fine but not very
smooth. A more pleasant setting would be “smooth” voice leading. Then the F7 would be voiced automatically as C-Eb-F-A.
“Riff based” voicing is used when you have recorded a pattern with a melodic riff in it. This setting ensures that Band-in-a-Box
will not try to transform any of the notes into chord tones.

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Guitar Styles with the StyleMaker
Guitar Styles with incredible authenticity are possible in the StyleMaker. You can use new macro notes to be played back as a
Jazz, Folk, or Pop guitar chord using correct fret positions for accurate guitar-friendly chords.
Playing back Guitar Styles
Guitar Styles are identified by the exclamation point (!) in the style name. This is not a requirement but is usually present in the
style name. For the typical user who is just using the styles for playback and isn’t making their own styles there’s not much that
you need to know about the styles, since they play normally like other Band-in-a-Box styles.

You can see which tracks have intelligent guitar parts by looking at the title window of the Guitar fretboard, when the track is
highlighted. If it is a Guitar Style track, it will say [Guitar voicings] after the name of the track. The usual track that has the
intelligent guitar styles is of course the Guitar Part. Some of the styles have more than 1 guitar, so the piano and/or strings part
might also have an intelligent guitar part. In these cases, you can also view the guitar on those tracks.
The styles can be set to use different types of voicings for guitar. For example, there are Jazz, Pop, and Folk (open position)
voicings. Also, some of the styles allow the guitar to play advanced chords and inversions. Some of the styles play chord
patterns, so the chord in the song might be F7, but the guitar plays a “walking-chord” pattern of F7, Cm7/G, Abdim, F7/A on
each beat. There can be fingerpicking styles that have a lowest note alternate between root and 5th.
Guitar Parts use channels 11 to 16 for the notes, corresponding to strings 1 to 6 of the guitar. When you make a MIDI file, the
notes will all get written on a single guitar channel. Sequencers like PowerTracks Pro Audio will recognize guitar parts on all 6
channels, so if you want to write the MIDI file from an intelligent guitar style, you can set Band-in-a-Box to do this from the
Options | Preferences | Write Guitar part on 6 channels option.
To make a Guitar Style:
Press the [Misc] button to enter the Misc. Style Settings window, and then press the [Guitar
Macros] button to launch the Settings for Guitar chord macros dialog.
Note: A macro is a single note that triggers a preset chord pattern.
Enable Guitar Macros for: Choose the tracks that you
want to put guitar parts on. Use the Piano and Strings to
layer multiple guitar parts.
In the drop-down Guitar Chord Types to Use combo
box, set the type of chords to use: Jazz, Pop, Folk, Half
Note (sax), Ukulele, Mandolin, 5-string Banjo or
alternate guitar tunings.
Set the complexity of the chords to use. These can be
single chords, chords with variations, inversions, and
chord “walking” patterns. If you want a simple guitar
style, set the first one to 100%, and the rest to 0%.
Strum Speed / Faster Strum Speed: Set the strum
speed and fret range that should be played on the guitar.
Only include first chord of pattern: The Guitar styles
have an option to keep the same chord for the whole
pattern when using databases that have changing chords
within the pattern. If set, databases that have changing
chords like the “Half Note (sax)” chords will only use
the first chord in the pattern.

Exit the dialog and record a guitar pattern using Guitar Macro notes.
When the recording of the pattern finishes, enable OK to use Macro Notes and Use Guitar Macros.
Save the style, using the convention of putting an exclamation (!) somewhere in the name (e.g., as the first
character in the filename) to indicate that it is an intelligent guitar style.

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Guitar Macro Notes

Tip: Middle C is C5 or note number 60.

The main Guitar Macro notes to use are:
Strummed Chords
C6 note Plays a guitar chord, with a slow strum.
D6 Plays a guitar chord, with a faster strum.
For example, if you want a simple 4-in-the-bar pattern that plays a slow-fast-slow-fast strumming pattern, play the notes C6 D6
C6 D6 for the pattern.
Additional strumming macros are:
F#6 Back strum, chromatic below.
G6 Back strum.
G#6 Back strum, chromatic above.
A6 Back strum, chromatic above, fast strum.
Single Strings in chord
C4 Plays a single string that is the low root of the chord.
G4, C5, E5 Plays single string (D string, G string, B string).
G5 Plays high E string.
F5 Plays high E string, but if none available will play G string.
Additional notes for fingerpicking, not part of chord
G3 Fifth below the low root of the chord for fingerpicking.
E4 Fifth or third above the low root for fingerpicking.
Override Guitar Style Options for this pattern only
You don’t need to set any Guitar Style Options, unless you want to override the settings already made in the Misc. Style
Settings dialog, for this pattern only. In the StyleMaker window, press the [Opt] button and then the [Guitar Options] button
to see the options for the current pattern.

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 Check the Over-ride Guitar Settings for this pattern
only checkbox to set new parameters for this pattern only.
Guitar Chord Types to Use: Use this feature to set the
type of guitar chords to use for this pattern from the list,
which includes alternate tunings.
Single Chords CHD1: The Single Chords feature will
play the chord as intended in the pattern for the percentage
value entered.
Single Chord - slight variation CHD2: This will play a
slight variation of the specified chord for the percentage
value entered.
Chord with 5th in bass (inversion) INV0: This feature
will play your chord with a 5th in the bass.
Chord with inversion later in pattern INV1: This feature
will play your chord with inversion later in the pattern.
Starting on Chord Inversion INV2: This feature will
play your pattern starting on chord inversion.
Single Chord w/ some Chromatic movement WK1: This feature will play single chord with some chromatic movement.
‘Walking’ pattern of chords WALK 2: Walking pattern of chords.
Starting on chord substitution WALK 3: Walking pattern starting on chord substitution.
Strum Speed (ms): This setting in milliseconds (ms) affects the rate in which the guitar chord is strummed.
Faster Strum Speed (ms): The Faster Strum Speed setting affects the rate in which the guitar chord is strummed. Note that a
lower setting in ms equals a faster strum.
Include Highest Note in Strummed Chord: Check to include the highest note (for Strummed Macros) when played as a
macro.
Include Highest Note in Finger Picking: Check to include the highest note (for Single String Macros) when played as a macro.
Only include first chord of pattern: Check to play the first chord only.
Lowest Fret: The Lowest Fret feature will limit the notes not to be played beneath the fret specified.
Highest Fret: The Highest Fret feature will limit the notes not to be played above the fret specified.
Embellish pattern OK (Sax db): This allows embellishment of the pattern from the Sax patterns database.
[Zeros]: Click this button to reset all percentage fields to zero.
[100s]: Click this button to set all percentage fields to 100.

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Miscellaneous Style Settings

This dialog allows you to set some miscellaneous settings for the style. They are:
Long Name (32 chars): A long style name can be stored in the style (up to 32 characters), and this will appear on screen and in
StylePicker.
Waltz?: If you want to make a waltz with the StyleMaker, check the “Waltz?” checkbox in the Misc. Style Settings dialog.
Then the StyleMaker will record and play patterns in 3/4 time. The “8 beat row” will record “6 beat” (2-bar patterns); the “4
beat” will record 3 beat (1 bar) patterns. The “2 beat” and “1 beat” still record 2 and 1 beat patterns. The new style is made as a
waltz, and will play with a 3/4 lead in. There is no need to put a 3/4 time signature change in bar 1.
Jazz Style?: This lets Band-in-a-Box know if the style you’ve made is a jazz style or not. If it’s a jazz style, it will use the Jazz
Snare/Bass Drum instead of the Pop Snare/Bass Drum, and makes some other decisions based on this setting.
Tempo: This allows you to set the tempo of the style. This is stored with the style. You can also change this tempo by the tempo
button on the StyleMaker main screen. Tempos can also be changed by the [ and ] keys. When you create a new song, the tempo
will be set to the tempo of the style.
Resolution: Styles can either have Triplet (swing eighth notes) Straight (even eighth or sixteenth notes) resolution.
Use Latin Drum Kit: Check to use a Latin drum kit in this style with instruments like maracas, cabasa, and agogo.
Velocity Boost of pushes: Pushes can get a velocity boost, so that they are played louder than other patterns. A usual setting
would be 10.
# ticks to push: Styles can be pushed with the StyleMaker. This will cause the patterns to be played a little ahead of the beat, a
certain % of time, which gives your arrangement a more human (musical) feel.
Band-in-a-Box uses a resolution of 120 PPQ, i.e., 120 ticks to a quarter note.
- 30 ticks = sixteenth note
- 40 ticks = triplet eighth note (Swing)
- 60 ticks = eighth note
Choose the number of ticks for each push to use.
Substyle Pushes: The % of notes that are pushed can be set separately for each track and for the “a” and “b” substyles.
In this example, the Bass track patterns will get pushed (randomly) 10% of the time in the
“a” substyle and 20% of the time in the “b” substyle.

Allow Volume Changes with Style: Usually you don’t want specific volume changes in a style. But if you decide to change the
volume of instruments, you can do it by setting this to YES and then entering the Volumes you want in the settings below. (A
better way to change the volume of a track is to use Pattern | Volume Adjust (Alt+W) to set the volume of each pattern
individually.)
MultiStyles: Styles can now have names stored for the substyles. This is especially useful for MultiStyles to describe the
various substyles.

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When MultiStyle names are set, they are visible when right-clicking on a bar number.

‘Riff’ voicing type uses chord tones: This is an option for piano, guitar, and string patterns. If selected, voicing modifies to
match the chord and scale. Deselect for a simple transpose ignoring chord type.
RealDrums Settings (Audio Drums, instead of MIDI drums): It is also possible to assign RealDrums (audio drums) to a
particular Band-in-a-Box style.

Enable Style uses RealDrums (audio drums) in order to designate a RealDrums style, and then press the [RD] button to select
your RealDrums style. Whenever the current style is played, it will use your RealDrums style provided that RealDrums are
enabled in the RealDrums Settings dialog. There are also additional volume controls here.
Note: There is a hotkey combination to turn RealDrums on/off (Ctrl+Shift+F6). This also works while the song is playing.
To make your overall dB setting a bit higher or lower for this particular Band-in-a-Box style you can enter a setting here. There
are also fields for adjusting the “a” or “b” subsection volumes only.
If you remove the check mark from either Allow “a” substyle RealDrums or Allow “b” substyle RealDrums the one with the
checkmark remaining will be used for the entire song, regardless of what substyle is currently called for in the song.
Choose Vary ^ styles with each play to hear a different variation each time [Play] is pressed, so the song sounds fresh each
time. One time you will hear it with brushes, the next time with sticks and ride cymbals, etc.
The [Set MultiDrums] button will open the Create Multi-Drums dialog, which allows you to create the Drums track with
multiple drum/percussion parts, drum loops, UserTracks drums, and even RealTracks.
You can select a timebase (normal-time, double-time, half-time, or triple-time) for the Drums track with the Timebase option.
[Guitar Macros]: These settings determine what type of guitar chords will be used, and only apply if the patterns are recorded
using the guitar macro notes, and if the pattern is set to use guitar macro notes.
[Allow Late Notes]: This opens the Settings for Making Late notes quieter dialog. Notes played near the end of a pattern will
usually conflict with the next chord. So, it’s best to prevent notes near the end of a pattern from playing. In the Arrangement
Options dialog under Options | Preference | [Arrange] button there a global setting for “Allow late notes in pattern, just before
chord change” and a percentage setting for how often they will be allowed.
[Style Memo etc]: This opens the Extra Style Settings dialog, which allows you to enter a memo, examples, genres, and other
parameters to the style.
Press the [More..] button for the More Settings (for Rests, Pushes, RealTracks) dialog.
Extra Style Settings
This allows you to enter a memo, examples, genres, and other parameters to the style. The dialog opens with the [Style Memo
etc] button in the Miscellaneous Style Settings dialog.

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To enter information, you first need to enable the Enable Extra Settings for this style check box. Then, enter a memo,
examples, feel, genres, etc.
You can import information from the current style or other styles. This is useful when you are making a similar style. For
example, if you are making a country style and want to import information from another country style, press the [Import from
Style] button, and select a style in the StylePicker. This will enter all the information from the selected style to the style you are
making.
Save the style, close the StyleMaker, and open the StylePicker. Then, press the [Rebuild] button, and select Rebuild of PG
Music and 3rd party styles. The StylePicker will then show the information you have entered to the style.
More Miscellaneous Style Settings (for Rests, Pushes, RealTracks)
This dialog opens with the [More] button in the Miscellaneous Style Settings dialog.

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Since rests can be “shots” that play a chord on beat 1, the style can define what instrument to use for this, and at what volume.
Similarly, each push is accompanied by a drum stab, and the style can define what instrument to use and at what volume.
The Lowest Bass Note setting defaults to the low E on the bass guitar or acoustic bass. It can be changed to match the range of
other bass instruments, such as a tuba, or to extend the range of the bass for keyboards or 5-string and 6-string basses.
Assign Soloist, RealTracks or MIDI SuperTracks: Styles can contain MIDI Soloists, RealTracks and MIDI SuperTracks.
To assign RealTracks to a style, select the “Track” to use, and the RealTracks #. In the following example, we are using
RealGuitar for the Guitar track.

Styles can have multiple RealTracks. For example, you could have a Real Guitar and Real Bass - and also RealDrums for the
drum track.
Styles can also use MIDI Soloists. For example, make a style with a banjo part that has the same quality as the Band-in-a-Box
Banjo Soloist. Here we are assigning an Earl Scruggs Bluegrass solo to the Strings part.

Use the dB or volume offset to match the level of your RealTracks audio or MIDI Soloist to the rest of the style. To apply the
MIDI volume offset, enable the “MIDI Velocity Changes supported” checkbox.

The RealTracks or MIDI timing offset can be used to offset the selected track by a certain number of ticks, either plus or
minus. A minus number will give the style a laid-back feel, a plus number will “push” the part.

Timebase allows styles to use Half-Time and Double-Time RealTracks. We include some of these styles.
For example, you can make a jazz ballad style (tempo 65) that uses a sax Soloist
at tempo 140 (playing double time).

Custom Settings: Styles can have settings such as custom panning, reverb, and tone, plus plug-ins and loops. Simple versions
of RealTracks, ‘held’ notes only versions of RealTracks, and Direct Input (DI) instruments can be used.

Note: For styles that store extra information (such as panning, reverb, tone, substyle names, plug-in names etc.), an extra file with a .stx
extension is saved. STX files are not needed for most styles, just ones that need to store this extra information.
[Multi/Medley]: A style can have a huge number of RealTracks by using the RealTracks multi/medley feature which allows a
single track to have up to 10 RealTracks. For example, you can have choirs with different singers and several guitars on the
same track. To do this, press the [Multi/Medley] button, and when the Create a Medley of different RealTracks dialog opens,
select RealTracks to use and the playing option (switching or playing simultaneously).
Plugin: If you want to save a style with specific plug-ins (MIDI synths or audio plug-ins) you can set them here. Plug-ins use
.tgs files, which must be in the C:\bb\DX Settings folder.
Loop/UserTracks/RealDrums: You can assign a loop, UserTracks, or RealDrums for any track.
[Add Custom MIDI track from another style]: You can add a custom track from another MIDI style by using the main menu
of the StyleMaker, Style | Import Instrument from Style.

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Assign Instruments to Style Dialog
Select the [Pat.] button in the StyleMaker tool bar to open the Assign Instruments to Style dialog.

This dialog allows you to assign instruments to a style. When the song is played back using the style, these patch changes will
be sent to your synthesizer. Remember, these are General MIDI Instrument numbers, not the patch numbers of your synth
(unless you have a General MIDI synth).
If you don’t require a specific instrument for the style, leave the setting at 0 < No Patch Change >.
Styles can have different instruments (patches) for the “a” and “b” substyle. For
example, you can have drum brushes on the “a” substyle, and sticks on the “b”
substyle, or acoustic piano for the “a” and electric piano for the bridge.
The patch changes take effect immediately in the style, so that when you are recording Bass part for example, you will hear the
bass patch that you have selected.
Melody Patch/Soloist Patch: If set to other than 0 < No Patch Change >, all Melodies/Soloists will be played on the specified
instrument. If you’re making a “Grover Washington” style for example, you might want any melodies to be automatically set to
saxophone.
Thru Patch: If you set the Thru patch to other than 0 < No Patch Change >, the instrument that the user plays along to your
style will be the patch that you set. If you’re making a “Heavy Rock” style, you might want to set the Thru patch to be Rock
Guitar if you expected that the user would want to always play along on Rock Guitar.
Advanced Editing of Patterns
Patterns can be “tweaked” with the other advanced features in the StyleMaker - Trim Pattern, Late Notes, and the Event List
Editor.
Trim Pattern
The Trim Pattern routine deletes notes past the end of a pattern, or (optionally) a specified distance from the end of a pattern.
This can be accessed from the Pattern | Trim Pattern(s), row(s) command.
In the dialog displayed, we are trimming 50 ticks from an 8-
beat pattern. This means that the information past 8 beats
(less 50 ticks) will be deleted. This feature is useful to erase
“busy playing” that is present near the end of a pattern, and
also delete notes that are just taking up space in the style.

Pattern Velocity Adjust

This function adds or reduces the velocity of a single pattern, row of patterns, or all patterns in an instrument. It is useful for
reducing or increasing the volume of an entire instrument or fine-tuning the velocities in a style. Choose the StyleMaker menu
item Pattern | Velocity Adjust for 1 pattern, 1 row or all patterns, and input the velocity change to make for the pattern(s). This
adds or subtracts a certain velocity value to the patterns.
Tip: There is another velocity command, “Volume adjust,” but it works differently. It will change the velocities to a certain value, useful for
“smoothing out” velocities.

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Late Notes
The [Allow Late Notes] button is found inside the StyleMaker’s Misc. Style Settings dialog. It opens a dialog with “Settings
for Making Late notes quieter.” There are settings for allowing or not allowing late notes, and for how late the notes can be.

The global setting for late notes in Options | Preferences [Arrange] will reduce the volume of the late notes for a smoother
transition from one chord to another.
Event List Editor
The [#] button in the StyleMaker Pattern Editor notation window opens an event list for editing, inserting, or deleting
notes in the patterns.

Style Log Options

For people making styles, the Style Log text file shows exactly which pattern was used in the song generation for every
instrument and bar/beat. This is useful in fixing errant patterns.
To set a style log, choose the StyleMaker Style | Write BBStyleLog##.txt file menu option Display BB StyleLog##.txt” in
Notepad with each play.

Then, a file called BBStyleLog##.txt will be displayed. Here is a sample:

Bass: Bar 1 Beat=1, Row= 1, Col=12, Location=13, Chord= C
Piano, Bar 1 Beat=1, Row= 1, Col=17, Location=140, Chord= C
Guitar, Bar 1 Beat=1, Row= 5, Col=8, Location=287, Chord= C
Strings, Bar 1 Beat=1, Row= 5, Col=23, Location=274, Chord= C
This tells you that when the song was generated, for the bass track, at bar 1 the pattern found in row 1, column 12 of the
StyleMaker was chosen.
Alternatives to Recording Patterns
It’s not always necessary to record every pattern for a style, or any patterns, for that matter. The import features in the
StyleMaker make it possible to assemble an entirely new style from existing styles, or to import patterns from favorite MIDI
files.
Hybrid Styles
The “Hybrid Styles” feature allows you to play and create a style that has instruments from up to five different styles! You can,
for example, play a song with a Reggae bass, Rock drums, Salsa piano, or any combination of up to five styles that you want.
Create a name for your hybrid style and you can save it with the song so that it will play that way in the future.
To use the Hybrid Styles feature, choose File | StyleMaker | Make a Hybrid style, or click on the [StyleMaker] button
in the toolbar and select Make a hybrid style from the pulldown menu. You will then see the Make a Hybrid style
dialog.

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Your hybrid style can be up to five instruments, each from a different style. For example, you can have a Latin drum part, with a
Zydeco bass, and Jazz guitar part, and strings from a Classical style!
Select the instrument (e.g., Bass), and then select a style by pressing the [.STY] button. Repeat for up to five instruments.
When you’re ready to generate the style, press [OK- (re) Generate style with name ---〉] and choose a name for your style.
Remember that style names in Band-in-a-Box can be a maximum of eight characters, with no spaces! (This is to ensure
compatibility with Macintosh® and previous versions of Band-in-a-Box.)
Press [Play] in Band-in-a-Box and you can hear the results. You can revisit the Make a Hybrid style dialog to make any
changes.
Editing a Hybrid Style
You can edit a hybrid style just like any other style. Open the StyleMaker to view the patterns.
Importing Instruments from Other Styles
This is a great way to have fun with the StyleMaker, and to create great new styles in no time. The dialog is accessed from the
Style | Import Instrument menu item.
Choose the instrument you want to import and select the desired options. Click on [OK]
and a standard Windows® Open dialog will be launched so you can select any style on
your computer as the source for the instrument. Mix and match instruments from different
styles to create fresh new arrangements.
Notice the selector box to choose an instrument to import and the destination instrument
in “Import to this instrument.” For example, to add a second guitar to your style, you
could import it to the Strings track if it is empty (or if you want to replace the strings with
another guitar).
Note that Piano/Guitar/Strings can be interchanged here, but Bass can only be imported
from Bass, and Drums from Drums.
Try some instruments from dissimilar styles for fun and surprises! You can also add parts
that were not present in the original style this way.

Importing Patterns from a MIDI file

You can use any MIDI file as a source for new StyleMaker patterns by accessing Pattern | Import Pattern from MIDI file menu
item.
Use the options to specify the channels and the exact bars to import, and also to
include or exclude controllers.
The import # patterns option allows you to import more than one at a time.
In the StyleMaker, when you choose Pattern | Import from a MIDI File (or
clipboard or Melody track) the dialog shows a further option at the bottom.
For example, if you import 8 patterns, the 8 patterns will be inserted in the first
available 8 positions on the current row. They will be offset by the # of beats
present on the current row. For example, if you are on the “4 beat” row, the
patterns will get inserted offset by 4 beats, so you’d get patterns for each bar in
the 8 bars imported.

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Convert Track to C7 chord
Choose Melody | Edit Melody Track | Map Melody track to C7 chord. The purpose of this function is to allow you to quickly
import any MIDI file track into the StyleMaker and make a style from it.

Once you choose the option, you select whether it is a bass track to import, or a piano track (actually any track other than bass or
drums). A bass track uses notes below C4 (MIDI note #48) and above the lowest note you select in the dialog.
If you select piano track the notes will all be mapped to a C7 chord, it is not important that the chords on the spreadsheet are
correct. However, if you are importing a bass track, it is important that the chords are correct. You can select options to allow
patterns that are anticipations, and also convert chords to “macro notes.” Force mapping to “tritones” is useful for guitar or
string parts that you might only want 2 notes for.
Once you have mapped the track to the notes, you can examine the Melody track to make sure the results are what you want,
and then use the Pattern | Import From Melody track command, and set the # of patterns to import, etc. This function allows you
to read in any track of music from a MIDI file that you’ve created, and quickly convert it to patterns in the StyleMaker. Since
the StyleMaker requires all patterns based on a C7 chord, this function automatically maps the entire track to notes on a C7
chord. You can then import any # of patterns (using the function to choose the number of patterns to import).
Editing Patterns
Slide Pattern X ticks
This is another option available on the StyleMaker menu. This allows a pattern to be time shifted any number of ticks, based on
a PPQ setting of 120.
The StyleMaker screen displays the number of patterns, which combined with the map to C7 function, allows you to quickly
import any MIDI file track into the StyleMaker and make a style from it.
There are other additional StyleMaker features such as definable instruments on the drum grid, 32nd notes on the drum grid,
“live” drums, the ability to load-in patterns from MIDI file to the drum grid or live drums, etc. to facilitate importing patterns
from MIDI files.
Velocity Adjust
This function adds or reduces the velocity of a single pattern, row of patterns, or all patterns in an instrument. It is useful for
reducing or increasing the volume of an entire instrument or fine-tuning the velocities in a style.
Choose the menu items Pattern-Velocity Adjust (for 1 pattern, 1 row, or whole instrument) and input the velocity change to
make for the pattern(s). This will add or subtract a certain velocity value to the patterns.
Style Checker
Analogous to a “Spell Checker,” this function analyzes your style-in-progress and identifies possible problems. The results are
output to a text window, allowing you to examine the patterns and fix them if required. It identifies patterns that might be “too
busy” or incorrect macro notes etc.
To access the Style Checker, open the StyleMaker (Ctrl+F9), and choose Style | Style Checker. You will then get a text report
about the style, listing possible problems with the style. Here is a sample printout:
-----Start of style checking ------JAZQUINT.STY
Drums: Row 1, Column 1 First pattern of instrument shouldn’t contain masks in it. It should be generic.
Piano: Row 1, Column 3 Non Chord tones found (other than C, E, G, Bb) and pattern is not set to a chord mask, riff based, or
MACRO.
Style Summary
This displays a text window summary of the style, including lots of information about the style such as # patterns, # patterns for
each substyle, patches, pushes, volume changes, guitar patterns, and more. To access the style summary, from the StyleMaker,
choose Style | Style Summary. You will then see a detailed text summary of the Style.

Style Wizard - Create Style from MIDI File

The Style Wizard is used to generate a Band-in-a-Box Style from a MIDI file. The Style Wizard does this by analyzing the file
and creating patterns emulating the notes and rhythms for the style.
Important: You should use a MIDI file that you have composed and arranged – if not, you need to first get permission of the composer and
arranger before making a style from the MIDI file.

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In this tutorial, we’re going to load in the violet.MID found in the C:\bb\Documentation\Tutorials folder and convert it to a
style, which we will call Violet.STY.
Press the [StyleMaker] button and select Style Wizard from the pulldown menu to launch the Style Wizard. Or choose
File | StyleMaker | Style Wizard.

Press the [Open] button and load in the file C:\bb\Documentation\Tutorials\violet.MID.

The Style Wizard then does the following automatically.
The chords for the MIDI file are interpreted and written on the Chord Sheet.
The “part markers” for the file are displayed on the Chord Sheet. For violet.MID, the Style Wizard has found the correct part
markers – by looking for drum fills and other signs of a part change – and has assigned substyle “a” to all of them. We will
change some of them to “b” later.
The channels used in the MIDI file are displayed in the dialog,
with the patches used and # of notes played on each channel. (For
violet.MID you can see that channels 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 10 are
used.)
The Style Wizard analyzes the parts and guesses at which Band-
in-a-Box part - Bass, Piano, Drums, Guitar, or Strings to use for
each track. Band-in-a-Box has correctly assigned 5 instruments –
not assigning a part to the Melody.

The Style Wizard suggests which bars (“snapshots”) to

include in the style. The suggested bars are bars with all of
the “BB Part” instruments.

Usually you’d want to customize these snapshot bars to control which bars get included in the “a” or “b” substyle. In the
violet.MID style, the Style Wizard has offered to include Bars 9-101 (inclusive) and wants to put them all on the “a” substyle.
Continuing on, we want to make a great sounding style, so it is important that we have the following two items correct:
The “BB Parts” have to be correct. We can audition the MIDI file by playing a loop and listening to the MIDI file
and muting channels by clicking on the “Channel” checkboxes. From that, we can hear the individual parts and
assign them correctly, as we would like them in the style. By playing the MIDI file inside the Style Wizard we can
tell which bars to use for the “a” and “b” substyles.
Note: The Style Wizard has entered some of these settings automatically – but you have to type in the data as shown.

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The Snapshot Bars should be correct for the “a” and “b” substyle. You need to tell the program what bars to use for the “a”
substyle and for the “b” substyle. The program makes an attempt to guess at this, but since MIDI files can contain many
different substyles (and a Band-in-a-Box style allows only 2), you’d likely want control over these snapshots yourself.
Tip to help you choosing which bars to use
To listen to the MIDI file, you can either exit the Style Wizard dialog and just play the song like
any other Band-in-a-Box file or play a looped section inside the Style Wizard using the [Play],
[Stop], and “Loop at Bar” settings.
OK, the Style Wizard has already made the correct settings for the “BB Parts” for us, so we don’t need to make any changes
there. Let’s move to the Snapshots section and enter the bar numbers that correspond to the substyles that we’d like for the jazz
tune. After listening to the tune, we notice that there is a “2-feel” jazz section, and a “4-in-the-bar” section. We want those as
“a” and “b” substyles, so we enter the bar #s that correspond to these settings.

In the Snapshots area of the Style Wizard:

­ Enter “1-20” for the bars for the “A” Substyle.
­ Enter “21-28, 37-68” for the “B” Substyle.
­ Enter “12, 20” for the “A” Drum Fills.
­ Enter “28, 36, 44, 52, 60, and 68” for the “B” Drum Fills.
Note: Of course, you don’t need to enter this much detail. You could just enter a single range like 1-20 for the “a” substyle and make a quickie
style. We’re illustrating “advanced” style-generation here.
Press [Generate NEW style] and choose a name for your style.
Let’s call it Violet.STY. Now to hear your style! You could play the style with any song of course, by loading in a song and then
loading in the Violet.STY. It is easily available from the Favorite Styles dialog (Shift+F9).
For this tutorial, load in the song V_TEST.MGU that we made for you. That’s a jazz swing song using different chords than
Violet, and it uses the Violet.STY (So you need to have made that style before you try to play the song or you will get a
“Violet.STY not found” message.)
Save the existing song before loading in the new song. When Band-in-a-Box saves a song that has an entire MIDI file on the
Melody or Soloist tracks it gives it a special MGX extension. So, you will be saving the file as Violet.MGX.
Alternatively, if you’d prefer to play the Violet.STY style without loading in another song, you can do it as follows. Since the
Violet.MGX file currently has the entire MIDI file on the Melody track, the first thing we need to do is mute the Melody (Alt+8
or right-click on the Melody track at the top of the screen). The next thing is to enable the style by choosing File | Load Style
Special | Style is Enabled so that this item has a checkbox.
Auto Endings for Styles without Endings
If you’ve made a style, and haven’t included an ending, a 2-bar ending can be generated automatically, based on the style. This
makes it easier to make complete styles using the Style Wizard. To hear an example, load in the song
C:\bb\Documentation\Tutorials\Tutorial - BB2005\No Ending.MGU. This song uses NOENDING.STY, a style that doesn’t
have an ending. An ending will be generated automatically for this style.
So, we’ve made our first style! In summary, making styles with the Style Wizard is a process involving:
1. Loading a MIDI file into the Style Wizard.
2. Listening to the MIDI file by muting channels to identify parts.
3. Picking the channels to use for the BB Parts.
4. Picking the snapshot bars for the “a” and “b” substyle.
5. Pressing the [Generate NEW style…] button.
Advanced Settings and Preferences
Click on the [More] button to open the Style Wizard Advanced Settings and Preferences dialog.

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There are 2 sections to this dialog: Advanced Instrument Settings and Preferences.
Advanced Instrument Settings
The advanced instrument settings allow settings for the instruments (drums / bass / piano / guitar / strings) to be included in the
style.
The Substyles determines whether the instrument is included in the “A,” “B,” or both “A&B” substyles. For example, if you
want to make a style that only uses the strings on the “B” substyle, set the strings instrument part to “B” only.
The Voicings settings determine, for the various instruments:
- Drums Voicings: Whether the patterns will use live or grid style patterns. Default mode is “auto,” which normally uses live
patterns, but you can force it to use live or grid style patterns. Live patterns have higher resolution and can use more
instruments, so in general are the better choice.
- Bass Voicings determine if the bass part will use All notes / Scale tones only / Root 3rd, 5th,7th / Root, 3rd, 5th / Root and 5th
/ or just the Root. The default is “Auto-select” which usually allows all 12 semitones.
- Piano, Guitar, and Strings Voicings determine how the Piano patterns will be voiced. The choices are “Auto,” “Include Full
Voicings,” “Tritones only (3rd/7ths),” “Power Chords (Root/5th),” “Chord Mask Half Octave,” and “Chord Mask Full
Octave.”
The auto-setting usually uses the “Include full voicings.” If the part uses 2-note chords, you should over-ride this setting to
“use tritones” so that the most important notes of the chord (the tritone) will get included.
You can also use chord masks so that specific patterns over chords will get added to your style, and they will play exactly as in
your MIDI file (just transposed). Set the voicings to use “Chord Mask Full Octave” or “Chord Mask Half Octave.”
You wouldn’t make a Style Wizard style from scratch using chord masks because there need to be generic patterns in the style.
Therefore, you do it as a 2-stage process.
First, make the style using generic patterns (e.g., Voicing type “Auto”) and then change voicings to Chord Mask, and add
those to the style. As with other Style Wizard features, it is important that the chords and part markers on the Chord Sheet be
very accurate. If they aren’t, you should fix them before generating a style.
The Emb. (Embellish) checkbox determines if the patterns for Piano, Guitar, and Strings will be embellished. If embellish is
selected on a chord like D7 (in the key of C) 13ths, 9ths, and #11 notes might be added to embellish the chord. A jazz piano
style would likely use this.
The Include Empty Patterns Threshold setting defaults to None. Possible settings are None / 2 beat / 1 bar / 2 bars. If set to
“None,” the instrument will always play in the style, and if set to “1 bar,” there will be “spaces of silence” up to 1 bar long
(perhaps longer if chained together) in the style for that instrument. If an instrument is used sparsely in a style, set this setting to
something higher than none.
The Velocity Adjust will make an instrument louder or softer in the style.
Preferences
Preferences affect the style itself.
Save settings with songs: The song will be saved as an MGX file, since the Melody track type is Multichannel and contains the
MIDI file. If you select this, the Style Wizard settings are all saved with the MGX file.
Leave StyleMaker open after creating style: If set, after generating the style, the StyleMaker is left open for you to
examine/edit the style directly.

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Auto-interpret MIDI file (Default = Yes): When set, the Style Wizard will set the channels, BB Parts, and snapshots for you.
Normally this setting should be left on.
Delete existing patterns (when adding to the style) (Default = No): If this option is set when you create style patterns to add to
an existing style, the entire instrument will first be erased in the style for any instrument used in the new style. When you
generate a style by adding to an existing style, the StyleMaker is then opened up, allowing you to pick a new name for the style
(so you don’t overwrite the existing style).
# columns to leave unused in the style (Default = 0): If set to zero (the default), the Style Wizard can create the biggest style
possible – filling up the rows completely with patterns. But if you set this to a non-zero value it will limit the # of patterns that
can be made. Since there are 30 rows in the StyleMaker, you can set this setting from 0 to 29.
Generate new pattern after # duplicates: The Style Wizard won’t insert patterns unless they are unique compared to the ones
already entered. But (with this setting at the default of 8), after 8 duplicates of the same pattern, a 2nd pattern will get entered that
is a duplicate of another pattern. Setting this to zero would mean that every pattern would get entered (regardless of whether it
was unique); setting it to a high number like 200 would mean that only truly unique patterns are entered. To maintain the correct
balance in the style, since the maximum weight of a pattern in the StyleMaker is 8, this setting should be left at 8 in most
situations. If your style is “filling up” all the available columns, then set this to a higher number.
Allow Pitch Bend in style: If set, pitch bend present on the MIDI file will be included in the style. Make sure that the MIDI file
pitch bend range = two semitones.
Allow pushes in style: If set, the style will allow pushes (playing instruments before the beat). This is done by setting the push
values in the individual pattern’s options.

Making RealDrums Styles

Introduction to RealDrums™
RealDrums are actual recordings of studio drummers, pieced together by Band-in-a-Box to create a unique “real” drum track
that is played along with the MIDI tracks created by Band-in-a-Box styles. You can combine any RealDrums style with any
Band-in-a-Box style, so the potential combinations are endless!
A RealDrums style consists of a wave file containing various bars of drum patterns, and a text file with instructions on how
Band-in-a-Box should interpret the wave file. In order for the style to work, the text file needs to be located in the main Band-in-
a-Box directory in the “Drums” folder, and then in a sub-directory that is the name of the style group. The file-name needs to be
the same as the style group, followed by an underscore (_) and a three-digit number representing the tempo. Additionally,
“_Style” has to be in the filename after the tempo.
For example, for a “JazzBrushes” style that is 120 beats-per-minute, this text file needs to be present:
C:\bb\Drums\JazzBrushes\JazzBrushes_120_Style.txt
The wave file also needs to be in a subdirectory of the “Drums” folder. It is usually located in the same place as the text file:
C:\bb\Drums\JazzBrushes\JazzBrushes_120_Style.wav
However, it can be in a different directory, and there are some instances where this is necessary (see “Reduced Styles” below).
“RealDrums style groups” are multiple RealDrums styles that have the same basic feel but were recorded at different tempos. In
the example above, “JazzBrushes” is the group, and “JazzBrushes_120_Style” is the style. In that particular example, the
JazzBrushes group contains 10 RealDrums styles:
JazzBrushes_045_Style
JazzBrushes_060_Style
JazzBrushes_070_Style
JazzBrushes_100_Style
JazzBrushes_120_Style
JazzBrushes_145_Style
JazzBrushes_175_Style
JazzBrushes_210_Style
JazzBrushes_250_Style
JazzBrushes_300_Style
The easiest way to make a style is to use a text-file template.
Making a RealDrums Style Using an Existing Template
Templates are available for download from
https://nn.pgmusic.com/pgfiles/support/patches/realdrums_stylemaking_templates.zip.
The information given below is all you need to create a RealDrums style using any of several provided templates.

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For a more in-depth look at the intricate details of creating styles, please read on to the following topics under Elements of
RealDrums Styles.
Recording your wave file
For the wave file that will be used for your RealDrums style, you can either record a drummer, or you can piece together a wave
file using drum loops. If you use drum loops, just make sure you have the necessary permission from the original artists and/or
publishers of the loops.
Regardless of the method that you choose for creating your drum wave file, you need to have it conform to one of these
descriptions in order to have it match the accompanying template:
1. 32_bars_of_drumming.txt
2. 32_bars_of_drumming_with_shots.txt
3. 32_bars_of_drumming_with_shots_two_endings.txt
4. 64_bars_of_drumming.txt
5. 64_bars_of_drumming_with_shots.txt
6. 64_bars_of_drumming_with_shots_two_endings.txt
1. 32_bars_of_drumming.txt
Bars 1-2 – count-in for two bars (i.e., “one, two, one-two-three-four”)
Bars 3-18 will use the same basic groove:
3 – PostFill (usually a bar of playing with a cymbal shot at the downbeat, or some kind of bar that would
sound good after a fill)
4-9 – normal playing
10 – Fill
11 – PostFill
12-17 – normal playing
18 – Fill
Bars 19-34 will use a slightly different groove (‘B’ section) than 3-18
19 – PostFill
20-25 – normal playing
26 – Fill
27 – PostFill
28-33 – normal playing
34 – Fill
35-36 – ending, lasting two bars (usually the second bar ends on the downbeat, with a cymbal decaying)
2. 32_bars_of_drumming_with_shots.txt
This is exactly the same as 1, with these bars added:
37 – single drum hit, which will be used for “shots” in Band-in-a-Box
38 – single drum hit, which will be used for “pushes” in Band-in-a-Box
3. 32_bars_of_drumming_with_shots_two_endings.txt
Bars 1-2 – count-in for two bars (i.e., “one, two, one-two-three-four”)
Bars 3-20 will use the same basic groove:
3 – PostFill (usually a bar of playing with a cymbal shot at the downbeat, or some kind of bar that would
sound good after a fill)
4-9 – normal playing
10 – Fill
11 – PostFill
12-17 – normal playing
18 – Fill
19-20 – two bar ending
Bars 21-36 will use a slightly different groove (‘B’ section) than 3-20
21 – PostFill
22-27 – normal playing
28 – Fill
29 – PostFill
30-35 – normal playing
36 – Fill
37-38 – ending, lasting two bars (usually the second bar ends on the downbeat, with a cymbal decaying)
39 – single drum hit, which will be used for “shots” in Band-in-a-Box

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 40 – single drum hit, which will be used for “pushes” in Band-in-a-Box
4. 64_bars_of_drumming.txt
Bars 1-2 – count-in for two bars (i.e., “one, two, one-two-three-four”)
Bars 3-34 will use the same basic groove:
3 – PostFill (usually a bar of playing with a cymbal shot at the downbeat, or some kind of bar that would
sound good after a fill)
4-9 – normal playing
10 – Fill
11 – PostFill
12-17 – normal playing
18 – Fill
19 – PostFill
20-25 – normal playing
26 – Fill
27 – PostFill
28-33 – normal playing
34 – Fill
Bars 35-66 will use a slightly different groove (‘B’ section) than 3-18
35 – PostFill
36-41 – normal playing
42 – Fill
43 – PostFill
44-49 – normal playing
50 – Fill
51 – PostFill
52-57 – normal playing
58 – Fill
59 – PostFill
60-65 – normal playing
66 – Fill
Bars 67-68 – ending, lasting two bars (usually the second bar ends on the downbeat, with a cymbal decaying)
5. 64_bars_of_drumming_with_shots.txt
This is exactly the same as 5, with these bars added:
69 – single drum hit, which will be used for “shots” in Band-in-a-Box
70 – single drum hit, which will be used for “pushes” in Band-in-a-Box
6. 64_bars_of_drumming_with_shots_two_endings.txt
Bars 1-2 – count-in for two bars (i.e., “one, two, one-two-three-four”)
Bars 3-36 will use the same basic groove:
3 – PostFill (usually a bar of playing with a cymbal shot at the downbeat, or some kind of bar that would
sound good after a fill)
4-9 – normal playing
10 – Fill
11 – PostFill
12-17 – normal playing
18 – Fill
19 – PostFill
20-25 – normal playing
26 – Fill
27 – PostFill
28-33 – normal playing
34 – Fill
35-36 – 2-bar ending
Bars 37-70 will use a slightly different groove (‘B’ section) than 3-18
37 – PostFill
38-43 – normal playing
44 – Fill
45 – PostFill
46-51 – normal playing
52 – Fill

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 53 – PostFill
54-59 – normal playing
60 – Fill
61 – PostFill
62-67 – normal playing
68 – Fill
69-70 – 2-bar ending
71 – single drum hit, which will be used for “shots” in Band-in-a-Box
72 – single drum hit, which will be used for “pushes” in Band-in-a-Box
Editing the text file
For the most part, the text files are ready-to-go. There are, however, a few small essential changes that you need to make to the
text file, and some other small changes you can make to improve your style.
Essential Changes
The first thing you need to do is change the filename of the wave-file and the text file to match the RealDrums style group to
which to which you want your style to belong. For example, if you want your style group to be called “MyFunkyStyle,” and the
style you recorded was at 70 beats per minute, your wave file would have to be called “MyFunkyStyle_070_Style.wav” and
your text file would have to be called “MyFunkyStyle_070_Style.txt.” Both files would have to be placed in your main Band-in-
a-Box directory (usually C:\bb) in the “Drums” folder, and from there in a folder that is named for the style group. In this case,
it would be C:\bb\Drums\MyFunkyStyle\.
The second thing you have to do is to change the first line of the text file so that it has the same name as the wave file. In this
case, you would change “wavename=mystyle.wav” to “wavename=MyFunkyStyle_070_Style.wav”
The last thing you would need to do would be that if your style were a waltz (3:4) style, you would need to change “TimeSig=4”
to “TimeSig=3”. If, however, you are making a 4:4 style, your style is ready to be used!
Additional Changes
There are a few additional changes that could be made to fine-tune your style. The first is to enter a different value in the
“Offset=“ line. Drummers often hit a drum a few milliseconds before the beat, because the actual sound of the drum tends to
peak a few milliseconds after it is hit. Because of this, you want Band-in-a-Box to “grab” a bar of drums a few ticks (1 beat =
120 ticks) early to compensate for this. The amount entered in the template is –5 (ticks), but if you are finding that the drum hits
at the beginning of bars are not starting properly, you can experiment by setting a different offset value. –6 or lower (since it’s a
negative number “lower” means –7, -8, -9, etc.) will mean the bar is “grabbed” earlier, and a higher number (-4, -3, -2, -1, 0,
etc.) means that it will be “grabbed” closer to the bar line.
Another thing you can change is the volume. If you are finding your style is too loud in Band-in-a-Box, you can reduce this by
entering lower numbers in the “dbAdjust=“ line. The default is 0, but if you enter –1, -2, -3, etc., the drum volume will be
lowered.
For the patterns and the shots, all the patterns that are entered in the templates will match your wave file, provided that the wave
file was recorded to the specifications listed above. You can make changes to the patterns and shots, but it is a good idea to read
further into the specific meaning of all the elements of these lines. This can be done in the complete RealDrums style making
documentation.
Testing your RealDrums style
Once you have made your RealDrums style, you can test it in Band-in-a-Box by loading a song and setting the tempo near to the
tempo of the style you just created. You would then go into the RealDrums Settings dialog (either by selecting Options |
Preferences | RealDrums or by pressing the [RealDrums] toolbar button) and make sure RealDrums are enabled. Put a
checkmark beside “For this song only, use this RealDrum style,” and then select your style from the “RD” button. When you
close the dialog and play your song, your RealDrums style should be playing as well. To make sure that it is playing, you can
look at the Band-in-a-Box title bar. If your style is “MyFunkyStyle_070_Style,” you should see
[RealDrums=MyFunkyStyle_070].

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Elements of RealDrums Styles
For an in-depth explanation of all elements of creating a RealDrums style, please read below.
Elements of the Wave File
The wave file must contain a 2-bar count-in. This can be a metronome sound, a drummer actually counting in, or even a two-bar
drum fill. These two bars will always be played at the beginning of a Band-in-a-Box song, unless the count-in is disabled in the
preferences. It is important to note that the beginning of the wave file should not contain a bar of drum playing that is intended
to be used in the middle of a song. If this bar were to be chosen, there would likely be an audible gap of silence at the beginning
of the bar when playing in Band-in-a-Box (this is due to the “ms offset” which will be discussed later)
The majority of the wave file can then contain any number of bars of drumming, keeping in mind that there are two “substyles”
available in Band-in-a-Box. This means that the basic groove should be the same throughout the first half of the drum bars, and
then the groove can change and should remain basically the same through to the end. Keep in mind also when you either record
or piece together your wave file, that in each “substyle,” there need to be examples of fill, normal bars, and post-fills (bars
specifically designed to come after fills, often containing a crash cymbal which completes a fill). You also need at least one 2-
bar ending.
After the bars of drumming should be a short section of single drum hits. These will be used to mix in with the bars of
drumming to emulate pushes and shots.
Example 1 shows an entire RealDrums style wave file. You can see that the first two bars contain the count-in, then the majority
of the file is taken up by regular drumming (you can see that halfway through the pattern is different – this represents the “B”
subsection), then at the end there are 4 “shots” (single drum hits).

Example 1: Wave form of an entire RealDrums style wave file

Elements of the Text File
The text file contains three main portions, global settings, pattern definition, and shots definition. We will examine each one
separately.
Global Settings
Wavename=x.wav
The first line of the text file must be “wavename=x.wav,” where “x” is the name of the filename. For example, the first line of
the JazzBrushes_120 text file is “wavename=JazzBrushes_120_Style.wav”. This file usually is in the same directory as the text
file but does not have to be. For example, you could make an alternate style that used JazzBrushes_120_Style.wav called
JazzBrushesAlternate. The text file would have to reside in
C:\bb\Drums\JazzBrushesAlternate\JazzBrushesAlternate_120_Style.txt, but the first line would still be
“wavename=JazzBrushes_120_Style.wav”.

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ForceWavTempo=x
This is only used if the tempo of the style in question is different from the tempo that is in the filename of the wave file being
used. These are called “reduced” or “expanded” styles and will be discussed further below.
TimeSig=3
This would be used if you are making a waltz style. The line can simply be omitted when making 4:4 styles.
OFFSET=x
Often a drummer will hit a drum or cymbal slightly before a beat so that the actual peak of the sound occurs on the beat itself.
The offset determines how many ticks (1 beat =120 ticks) before the downbeat a bar of drums will be taken from the style wave
file, which is intended to compensate for any occurrence of this early playing on the drum track. It is important to note that iv a
bar is taken 10 ticks early from the style wave file, it is also placed 10 ticks early on the Band-in-a-Box drum track, so there will
be no shifting of the actual groove.
If no offset amount is entered, the program defaults to an offset of 0.
To determine a good offset amount for a particular wave file, you can use an audio editor (such as PowerTracks Pro Audio) to
zoom in on the downbeats of all (or a sampling) of the bars. You can then measure the number of ticks between the start of the
drum hits and the actual bar line. The highest example would be entered as the offset amount.
In example 2, the beginning of the drum hit at bar 15 occurs at 14:04:118, or 2 ticks before the downbeat of bar 15. If all other
bars were similar, you would enter an offset of –2.

Example 2: The left edge of the highlighted area represents the beginning of the drum hit that occurs at bar 15, and the right
edge of the highlighted area represents the actual downbeat of bar 15.
dbadjust=x
If a value is entered here, when the RealDrums track is played in Band-in-a-Box, the volume will be raised (or lowered if a
negative value is entered) by the amount entered. This is used to balance the RealDrums against the other DXi instruments. This
amount can be fine-tuned once the style is completed and it is possible to test it in Band-in-a-Box.
If no dbadjust amount is entered, the program defaults to an adjust of 0.
dbadjustA=x
dbadjustB=y
You can adjust the volume of the A section and B section patterns separately in the same manner as “dbadjust” using
“dbadjustA=“ and “dbadjustB=.” The final volume of the parts will be based on the “dbadjust” amount added to the adjust for
the substyle in question. For example, let’s assume these values were entered:
Dbadjust=-5
DbadjustA=-2
DbadjustB=3
The total volume adjust for the A section would be (-5) + (-2) = -7. The total volume adjust for the B section would be (-5) +3=
-2.
MultibarPatternPercent=x
When Band-in-a-Box is choosing a RealDrums pattern (see “patterns” below) for a particular bar in a song, it randomly selects
from all possible patterns that fit based on their relative weight. If, however, a percentage is entered here, then before this step it
determines whether the current bar will be use a multi-bar pattern based on the percentage. If this occurs, Band-in-a-Box
eliminates all 1-bar patterns as possibilities for the current bar of music. For example, if “MultibarPatternPercent=20” is entered,
then every time Band-in-a-Box searches for a pattern, there is a 20% chance that it will eliminate 1-bar patterns as possibilities.
If “MultibarPatternPercent=80” is entered, then every time there will be an 80% chance that 1-bar patterns will be eliminated as

330 Chapter 14: User Programmable Functions

possibilities. If such an instance occurs, but no multi-bar patterns will fit in the Band-in-a-Box bar in question, a 1-bar pattern
will be allowed.
If no amount is entered here, then Band-in-a-Box simply always picks between all possible patterns based on their relative
weights.
PushAmount8=x
PushAmount16=x
When pushes are entered in Band-in-a-Box (with either “^” for an 8th note push or “^^” for a 16th note push, entered before a
chord”), the RealDrums mix single drum hits with the bars of regular playing to emphasize the push. These settings determine
how many ticks prior to a beat the pushes are played.
Mathematically, since 1 quarter-note is 120 ticks, in a straight 8th style the 8th note will be 60 ticks and the 16th note will be 30
ticks, and in a swing 8th style the 8th note will be 40 ticks. However, since drummers (thankfully!) do not play mathematically,
these numbers will vary based on their individual style, and the amount of “swing” in their playing. A good amount to enter for
these values can be determined by closely examining the drummers playing in an audio editor and measuring the number of
ticks between a few 8th notes prior to beats.
In this straight-8ths style (example 3), this eighth note played prior to the downbeat of bar 6 is played at 5:04:058, or 62 ticks
before the downbeat. The rest of the file could be examined in a similar fashion (or random samplings), but based on this
example you would enter PushAmount8=62.

Example 3: The left edge of the highlighted area represents the eighth note before the downbeat of bar 6, and the right edge of
the highlighted area represents the downbeat of bar 6.
If no amount is entered for these values, Band-in-a-Box determines the amount based on whether or not the Band-in-a-Box style
being used is a swing or straight 8th style.
ASubstyleAllowed=NO
BSubstyleAllowed=NO
Using either one of these lines blocks all patterns for the specified substyle, and then uses the patterns of the remaining substyle
for the entire song, regardless of the substyle selected in Band-in-a-Box.
This can be useful for altering an existing style. For example, if you have a style made that uses brushes at the A section and
sticks at the B section, but you want to change it so that it only uses sticks, you can enter the line “AsubstyleAllowed=NO” into
the text file. All of the B section patterns will be used for both A section parts and B section parts in Band-in-a-Box. This is also
a useful tool in making “Alternate” styles (see “Alternate Styles and Expanded/Reduced Styles” below).
It is important, however, to not enter both of these lines. If you do this, Band-in-a-Box will not be able to find any patterns at all,
and you will get an error message.
Pattern Definition
All patterns are defined in the text file using lines of text containing seven elements, with each of the seven elements separated
by a comma. The seven elements are: 1) the text “pattern,” 2) type of pattern, 3) section definition (A, B or all), 4) weight (how
often the pattern will be played), 5) Mask (restrictions on where the pattern can be played), 6) duration of the pattern in bars, 7)
the location of the pattern in the style wave file.
Here are some examples of defined patterns:
pattern,Normal,A,2,1,2,75
pattern,Fill,A,1,0,1,58

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 pattern,PostFill,B,8,0,8,3
pattern,Ending,0,6,0,2,114
pattern,Count-in,0,5,0,2,-1
As you can see, each example here starts with the text “pattern.” This simply lets Band-in-a-Box know that the line contains
information regarding drum parts that will be inserted into the RealDrums track. The next element is the type of pattern, and
here we have examples of “normal,” “fill,” “PostFill,” “Ending” and “Count-in” types of patterns. The next element is the
section definition, and we have examples of “A” section patterns, “B” section patterns and “0” patterns, for which sections are
not applicable. The next element is the weight. In these examples we have weights of 2, 1, 8, 6, and 5. The higher the weight,
the more frequently the pattern will be chosen. The next element is the mask. There are examples here of “0” masks, which
impose no additional restrictions on where the pattern can be played and a “1” mask, which does impose certain restrictions. The
next element is the duration in bars, and we have examples here of patterns that last 1, 2 or 8 bars long. The final element is the
location of the pattern in the style wave file. These numbers represent bars; however, you will notice that one of the examples
has a location of –1. This is because Band-in-a-Box uses a –1 based numbering system for bars of music in a song, which will
be explained in more detail below.
The six elements that come after the text “pattern” are explained here in further detail:
1. Type of pattern
There are 5 different types of patterns, “Fill,” “PostFill,” “PreFill,” “Normal,” “Ending” and “Count-in.”
Fills
Fills always occur in the bar immediately prior to part markers. In Band-in-a-Box songs, part markers (A or B) are used to
delineate musical phrases. Since drum fills are also used to conclude musical phrases, drum fills always occur in the last bar
before a part marker. Unlike other patterns, fills can only be 1 bar long.
Here are some examples of Fill patterns defined:
• pattern,Fill,A,1,0,1,8
• pattern,Fill,B,6,0,1,32
• pattern,Fill,B,5,0,1,58
PostFills
As the name implies, PostFills bars occur after Fills. That means that PostFill bars always occur in bars in which there are part
markers. Typically, PostFill bars are generally bars that have a cymbal crash on the downbeat, which is intended as a completion
to the fill that occurred in the previous bar. PostFills can be any number of bars long.
Here are some examples of PostFill patterns defined:
• pattern,PostFill,A,8,0,8,1
• pattern,PostFill,A,5,0,1,9
• pattern,PostFill,B,4,0,2,17
PreFills
PreFill bars occur immediately before Fills. PreFills are not essential for a style to work but can be useful in situations where a
drummer begins an elaborate fill a bar early. When Band-in-a-Box picks patterns for bars that precede fills, it picks from among
the pool of normal and prefill patterns. PreFills can either be 1 or 2 bars long. Prefills can be 1 or 2 bars long, with the 2-bar
prefill containing the actual fill as well.
Here are some examples of PreFill patterns defined:
• pattern,PreFill,A,4,0,2,7
• pattern,PreFill,B,7,0,1,57
Normal patterns
Normal patterns generally make up the bulk of a Band-in-a-Box song. Any bar that is not immediately before or after a part
marker, and is not a count-in or ending, will be taken from the pool of normal patterns.

Example 4: All of the highlighted bars in this example are “normal” bars.
Here are some examples of Normal patterns defined:
• pattern,Normal,A,2,0,1,3
• pattern,Normal,A,5,3,2,11
• pattern,Normal,B,5,1,2,75
• pattern,Normal,B,2,5,2,64
Endings

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 Endings are always 2 bars long, and generally have characteristics of fills for the first bar, but then end with a drum hit on the
2nd bar, sometimes with a cymbal on the downbeat, but also often with a particular rhythmic figure. You should check the
ending in the Band-in-a-Box style that you will be using the RealDrum style with to see what kind of rhythm should be used
in the drums to match up. Endings can only be 2 bars long, and you need to have at least one ending defined for a style to
work.

Example 5: The two highlighted bars show where an ending is played in Band-in-a-Box.
Count-ins
Count-ins are always 2 bars long, and always occur at the beginning of a song (unless the count-in is disabled in settings).
Count-ins are usually sidestick tapping “one… two… one, two, three, four,” but you can put anything in these two bars. You
can have a person actually counting in, or you can have 2 bars of drum fills as your count-in, etc.
2. Section Definition
Band-in-a-Box styles and RealDrums styles have two “subsections,” an “A” subsection and a “B”‘ subsection. When
defining patterns, you need to specify whether the pattern is intended to be played during “A” section or the “B” section. For
patterns to which the section is not applicable, you can fill this space with a “0.” These include the count-in and the ending.
You can make an exception for the ending, if you want to specifically designate an ending to occur only when the preceding
bar is “A” or “B.” Instead of “0,” you would enter “Aending” or “Bending.” Just remember that if you do this, you need to
cover both eventualities. If you enter a “0” ending, this on its own covers both cases.
Here are some examples of “A” patterns:
• pattern,Fill,A,1,0,1,8
• pattern,PostFill,A,8,0,8,1
• pattern,PostFill,A,5,0,1,9
• pattern,PreFill,A,4,0,2,7
• pattern,Normal,A,2,0,1,3
• pattern,Normal,A,5,3,2,11
Here are some examples of “B” patterns:
• pattern,Fill,B,6,0,1,32
• pattern,Fill,B,5,0,1,58
• pattern,PostFill,B,4,0,2,17
• pattern,PreFill,B,7,0,1,57
• pattern,Normal,B,5,1,2,75
• pattern,Normal,B,2,5,2,64
Here are some examples of “0” patterns:
• pattern,Count-in,0,5,0,2,-1
• pattern,ending,0,1,0,1,33
Here are some examples of special-case endings:
• pattern,ending,Aending,5,0,2,37
• pattern,ending,Bending,5,0,2,77
3. Weight
Every time that Band-in-a-Box needs to find a RealDrums pattern to insert into a Band-in-a-Box bar, it first finds all possible
patterns that would fit (based on the type of pattern, the section definition, the mask and the length), and then it picks randomly
from those patterns based on the weight assigned.
The weight is a number between 1 and 8 (there are special cases where you can use 0 or 9 which we will examine at the end of
this section). When Band-in-a-Box has amassed the list of possible patterns, it then adds up the weights of all of these patterns,
and then the chances that each pattern will be selected is based upon a percentage determined by the weight of the pattern
divided by the total.
For example, if Band-in-a-Box is finding a “normal” pattern for bar 3 of the song, and it has determined that these four patterns
are the only possibilities:
• pattern,Normal,A,5,1,4,11
• pattern,Normal,A,1,0,2,17
• pattern,Normal,A,7,3,2,13
• pattern,Normal,A,2,1,1,20
The first thing it would do would be to add up all of the weights. In this case, 5+1+7+2=15. The chance that each pattern will be
picked in this instance is determined by its own weight divided into the sum. Here then, are the chances for each pattern to be
picked in this instance:
• pattern,Normal,A,5,1,4,11: 5/15=0.333 or 33%

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 • pattern,Normal,A,1,0,2,17: 1/15=0.066 or 7%
• pattern,Normal,A,7,3,2,13: 7/15=0.466 or 47%
• pattern,Normal,A,2,1,1,20: 2/15=0.133 or 13%
When 9 is entered as a weight, the program treats it slightly differently. A 9 weight means that any possible patterns that have a
weight of 8 or less are completely eliminated as possibilities.
With the previous example, if you changed the weight of the first two patterns to 9, but left the last two as 7 & 2, then the last
two would be eliminated as possibilities, and the percentages would change to:
• pattern,Normal,A,9,1,4,11: 50%
• pattern,Normal,A,9,0,2,17: 50%
• pattern,Normal,A,7,3,2,13: 0%
• pattern,Normal,A,2,1,1,20: 0%
It is therefore important that you are very careful when using a weight of 9. It is usually used in conjunction with a mask (masks
will be explained in greater detail below). For example, if you had a mask that stated that a normal pattern could only be played
7 bars after a part marker, if you then gave it a weight of 9, any time Band-in-a-Box needed to find a pattern 7 bars after a part
marker it would always use that pattern. However, it would not affect any other bars.
The other special case is a 0 weight. This is only used for fills. When Band-in-a-Box finds possible patterns, if a particular
pattern is going to end where a fill is required due to the part-marker placement, then the pattern will only be included as a
possibility if that bar in the style wave file has been designated as a fill at some point in the text file. Likewise, a pattern that
ends with a fill will not be considered a possibility if the fill doesn’t match up in the Band-in-a-Box song.
For example, let’s say that Band-in-a-Box is searching for a pattern to place at bar 5, where bar 6 will need to be a fill:

Example 6: Pattern needed for bar 5.

It will be looking for a normal pattern, and it can use a normal pattern that is 1 or 2 bars long. However, if it picks a 2-bar
pattern, it needs to make sure that in the style wave file, the second bar is designated as a fill.
Let’s assume that this pattern is entered in the text file:
Normal,A,5,0,2,15
This is a 2-bar normal pattern beginning on bar 15 of the style wave file. This pattern could only be picked in this instance if
there was another line somewhere in the text file defining bar 16 of the style wave file as a fill:
Fill,A,5,0,1,16
However, it may be that this fill would not work well as a stand-alone bar (perhaps there is a cymbal decay that crosses over
bars 15 & 16 that you do not wish to break up – see “Duration” for more information on this). In this case, you would still want
to define the bar as a Fill, so that multi-bar patterns ending in this fill would be used at the right place, but you would never want
the fill to be picked on its own. In this case, you could give it a weight of 0:
Fill,A,0,0,1,16
4. Mask
A Mask can be used to specify that a pattern should only be used a certain number of bars after a part marker. It only applies to
Normal patterns, and all other patterns should be given a weight of 0 (0 means no mask).
Here is a list of the possible masks, and what effect they will have:
0 – No mask: This pattern can be used anywhere
1 – Odd bars only: 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, etc. bars after a part marker
2 – Even bars only: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, etc. bars after a part marker
3 – 3, 7, 11, 15, etc. bars after a part marker
4 – 4, 8, 12, 16, etc. bars after a part marker
5 – 5, 13, 21, etc. bars after a part marker
6 – 6, 14, 22, etc. bars after a part marker
7 – 7, 15, 23, etc. bars after a part marker
8 – 8, 16, 24, etc. bars after a part marker
etc.
Many drum beats use 2-bar rhythms that then repeat, so it’s very common for the “1” and “2” masks to be used. If you have
assigned a “1” mask to several Normal patterns, and a “2” mask to several others, you will always be sure that the 2-bar
grouping remains consistent. Just remember that you have to make sure that there are enough patterns to cover all possibilities.
If you have only patterns with “1” masks, and no patterns with “2” masks, then Band-in-a-Box will not be able to find any

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patterns for even bars. The safest thing to do is to use a mask of “0,” but this may not be the most musical approach. A mask of
4 is often used for more subtle fills that would highlight 4 bar phrases. Masks higher than 8 are not commonly used, as it would
mean that the pattern would be played very rarely.

Example 7: Normal pattern needed for bar 13.

In example 7, if Band-in-a-Box is trying to find a normal pattern for bar 13, it will look for patterns with a mask of 0, 1 (because
it is an even number of bars from the part marker) or 5. If it were trying to find a normal pattern for bar 14, it would look for
patterns with a mask of 0, 2, or 6.
5. Duration
PostFill and Normal patterns can be any number of bars long, however there is a practical range that is commonly used. Other
patterns are restricted to a certain number or range of bars. Here is a list of the pattern types, and the ranges of durations:
Fills – 1 bar long only
PostFills - 1 bar or higher, generally no higher than 8 bars
PreFills – 1 or 2 bars long only
Normal – 1 bar or higher, generally no higher than 8 bars
Endings – 2 bars long only
Count-ins – 2 bars long only
The difference between favoring short patterns and long patterns is a balance between consistency and variation. Long patterns
may sound more consistent, because you will be hearing large portions of raw audio, exactly as the drummer played it. On the
other hand, with short patterns, there will be more variety in the phrases, because there will be many more possible
combinations when single bars are mixed and matched together. Many people will favor a combination of long and short
patterns. Also, while it is possible to have very long patterns, it is important to remember that patterns will not cross part
markers, so if you designate 16 bar patterns, but in your Band-in-a-Box songs you have part markers every 8 bars, those 16 bar
patterns will never be played.

Example 8: Normal pattern needed for bar 5.

In example 8, if Band-in-a-Box is trying to find a Normal pattern for bar 5, it can pick a 1, 2, or 3 bar pattern, or a 4-bar pattern
that ends with a fill. It cannot pick a pattern that is more than 4 bars long.
Another thing to keep in mind is that for any given bar in the style wave file, you can have as many different patterns defined as
you like. So, for example, you can define a 1-bar pattern that starts at bar 5, you can then also define a 2-bar pattern that starts at
bar 5, a 4 bar pattern, 8, etc.
In deciding what lengths of phrases will work well, an important thing to consider is whether or not certain bar lines make good
cut-off points. For example, let’s assume that in a style wave file, at the 4th beat of bar 15 there is a crash cymbal that decays
into bar 16, but fades out before the end of bar 16. Bar 15 would likely not be very good as a 1-bar pattern, because you would
have situations where bar 15 would be used and would then go directly to a different random bar that likely does not have a
cymbal decay, so you would hear an abrupt cut-off which would greatly reduce the musicality of the drum part. In situations like
these, you would then make sure that other patterns did not end with bar 15 as well. For example, a pattern at bar 14 would not
be good as a 2-bar pattern, because it would cut off in the same place, but it would be good as a 3-bar pattern. Conversely, bar
16 would not likely make a good pattern at all, because it will start with a cymbal decay that had no start to it. This doesn’t mean
that bar 16 will never be used, it will just never be the start of a pattern.
A good rule to follow is to try and have at least one 1-bar PostFill, Normal, and Fill patterns for each subsection, just to make
sure that all possible circumstances will be covered. Once you have that, you can determine what other patterns will work well
based on the phrasing of the drummer.
6. Location
The final element in pattern definition is the location of the pattern in the style wave file. This number represents the bar number
in the wave file, but it is important to remember that this is a –1 based numbering system. The first two bars of the wave file are
reserved for the count-in, which are considered to be bars –1 and 0. The drumming starts at the third actual bar of the wave file
but is referred to as bar 1. So, if you are viewing bars in an audio editor, remember that when you reference these bars in your
text file, you need to subtract 2 before you enter them in the patterns.
If this is confusing to you, there are two ways you can simplify this. Some audio editors allow you to designate bar “1” at any
point in a wave file. Simply go to bar 3 and designate that as bar 1. Then, any bar number you see will directly match what
needs to be entered into the text file. The other thing you can do is that while you are actually working on the style, you can cut
the 2 count-in bars, which will shift the rest of the track back by 2 bars, and any bars you see will be the same bar numbers you

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need to enter into the text file. Once you have finished the text file, you can then paste the count-in back in to the beginning of
the file.
Shots Definition
In Band-in-a-Box, shots and holds are entered by putting either 2 or 3 periods after a chord (2 periods for a shot, 3 for a hold).
With RealDrums, when a shot or hold is entered, the drums stop for the duration of the chord, and a single drum hit is played in
place of the drum beat. Pushes are entered by typing either 1 or 2 caret symbols (“^”) before the chord in question (1 caret for an
8th note push, and 2 carets for a 16th note push). With RealDrums, when a push is entered, the regular drum beat continues
throughout, but a single drum hit is added to the mix to emphasize the push.

Example 9: Bar 1 shows a shot, bar 3 shows a hold, bar 4 shows an 8th note push, and bar 7 shows a 16th-note push.
The single drum hits are generally recorded at the end of the wave file, after the main drum groove, but they do not have to be.
Like patterns, shots are also defined in the text file using lines of text containing several elements: 1) the text “shot,” 2) type of
shot (0 for shot or hold, 1 for pushes), 3) the bar number of the shot in the style wave file, 4) the number of ticks (1 beat = 120
ticks) before or after the bar number the shot occurs, 5) the duration of the shot in ticks, 6) weight, 7) volume of the shot
Here are some examples of defined shots:
Shot,1,82,-2,455,1,100
Shot,0,83,5,360,1,90
Shot,1,171,240,200,1,80
The six elements that come after the text “shot” are explained here in further detail:
1. Type of shot
The type of shot needs to be either 0 or 1. If 0 is entered, the shot will be used when chords are entered with two periods (shot)
or three periods (hold). If 1 is entered, the shot will be used when chords are entered with two or three carets before them (8th &
16th note pushes).
2. Bar number in style wave file
Like with patterns, you need to remember that RealDrums styles use –1 based numbering, so you need to subtract 2 from the bar
number as you see it in your audio editor. More than one shot can be played in a single bar, and you would use the tick adjust
amount to distinguish between the two.
3. Tick adjust
The shots do not necessarily have to occur at the bar lines, and the tick adjust can be used to tell Band-in-a-Box exactly where
the shot starts. Simply measure the number of ticks from the downbeat of the bar number entered to the start of the shot, and that
is the number that should be entered here. If the shot starts before the bar number that was entered, a negative number should be
entered here.
For example, if a shot is recorded at bar 82, but on closer examination it appears that the shot was played two ticks early, it
would be entered as such:
Shot,1,82,-2,455,1,100
In another example (see example 10 below), a shot is played at the third beat of bar 171. In this case you need to use the tick
adjust to indicate that it a full two beats after bar 171. Since one beat is 120 ticks, two beats would be 240 ticks, and it would
therefore be entered as such:
Shot,1,171,240,200,1,80

Example 10: Here the shot begins at bar 171 (173-2), at the third beat, or 240 ticks into the bar.
4. Duration
Unlike patterns, which use numbers of bars for durations, the shots use ticks for durations. So, for example, if a shot lasts for
three beats, you would enter 360 (3 beats * 120 ticks per beat).
Here is an example of a shot that lasts for three beats:

336 Chapter 14: User Programmable Functions

 Shot,0,83,5,360,1,90
For the best effect, the sound of the shots should decay naturally, and the entire length of the shot including the decay should be
entered in the text file. This is especially important when all other instruments are silent, and all you hear is the decaying sound
of the drum hit.
5. Weight
The weight for shots works exactly the same as the weight for patterns, except that there is no need for the use of 0 or 9 weights.
This number should be between 1 and 8, with higher numbers representing a greater chance that the shot will be selected each
time.
6. Volume
The volume of the shots is represented by a number between 1 and 127. If 90 is entered, the volume will not be adjusted at all. If
a number between 1 and 89 is entered, the volume will be lowered accordingly, and if a number between 91 and 127 is entered,
the volume will be raised accordingly. It is generally easiest to test the volume amounts once the style has been completed.
Additional Entries in the Text File
Bars Blocked
During the testing of your style, you may come across instances where a particular bar from the style wave file simply does not
sound good going into another specific bar from the style wave file. When this happens, you can enter a “BarsBlocked” line into
your text file to ensure that these bars are never played back-to-back.
When “BarsBlocked” is typed into the text file, followed by bar numbers separated by commas, Band-in-a-Box takes the first
number, and all of the bar numbers that follow are “blocked” from ever following the initial number.
So, for example, if this line is entered:
BarsBlocked,24,35,41
then bar 24 can never be followed by bars 35 or 41.
However, when using this feature, you need to be very careful that you are not creating situations where Band-in-a-Box will not
be able to find a possible match for a bar. When you block a bar, you need to make sure that there are patterns defined starting
on other bars that would also work.
Comments
When you create your style, you may want to add comments into the text file as reference points, or as reminders about certain
aspects of the style. This can be done in two ways: 1) semicolon comments 2) Pascal-style comments.
If you type a semicolon into the text file, whether it’s at the beginning of a line, or at the end of a pattern definition, and text that
is typed after the semicolon is ignored, which allows you to type comments. For example:
;this entire line will be ignored by Band-in-a-Box
pattern,normal,A,5,0,4,15;this text will also be ignored by Band-in-a-Box
Pascal-style comments are comments that are enclosed by { and } characters. Any text enclosed by these characters will also be
ignored by Band-in-a-Box. Unlike the semicolons, these comments can occur in the middle of a pattern definition, and the line
can continue after the comment. For example:
{this entire line will be ignored by Band-in-a-Box}
pattern,normal,{this text will be ignored}A,5,0,4,15
Alternate Styles & Expanded/Reduced Styles
Alternate Styles
It is possible for a wave file to be used for more than one style. For example, you may want to duplicate a style, but omit certain
fills, or assign different weights to certain patterns.
In this case, you still need to create a new RealDrums style group by creating a new sub-directory in the “Drums” folder, and the
text file for the style needs to be present. The only difference is that in the text file you would have the name of the wave file
you are using, and that name will be different from the text file name.
For example, if you have a “MyFunkyStyle” style at 90 bpm, these files would be present:
C:\bb\Drums\MyFunkyStyle\MyFunkyStyle_090_Style.txt
C:\bb\Drums\MyFunkyStyle\MyFunkyStyle_090_Style.wav
To make an alternate style, you could create this file:
C:\bb\Drums\MyFunkyStyleALT\MyFunkyStyleALT_090_Style.txt
The first line of this text file would be:
wavename=MyFunkyStyle_090_Style.wav
Expanded/Reduced Styles

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Often you will find examples of drum grooves where the pulse can be treated as 8th notes or 16th notes. For example, different
musicians may disagree on whether a groove is 90 bpm with a 16th note pulse, or 180 bpm with an 8th note pulse. In Band-in-a-
Box, some styles are treated as 8th note styles and others are treated as 16th note styles, and you may find examples where a
drum beat that is intended for 8th note styles may work equally well on 16th note styles at half the tempo. In these cases, you
can create two separate styles that both point to the same wave file and treat it as two different tempos. The same method as
described in “Alternate Styles” above could be used, with one addition. For the style in which the tempo is different in the text
file then it is in the wave file filename, you would need to add the “ForceWavTempo=“ line to the text file.
For example, if you have a “MyFunkyStyle_90” Style, the following files would be present:
C:\bb\Drums\MyFunkyStyle\MyFunkyStyle_090_Style.txt
C:\bb\Drums\MyFunkyStyle\MyFunkyStyle_090_Style.wav
For an expanded style, you could create this file:
C:\bb\Drums\MyFunkyStyleEXP\MyFunkyStyleEXP_180_Style.txt
The first line of this text file would be:
wavename=MyFunkyStyle_090_Style.wav
And an additional line would be needed:
ForceWavTempo=180
There some additional points in making expanded and reduced styles. First of all there is the issue of bars correctly matching up.
If the number of bars in a particular group of bars in the higher tempo version are an odd number, this can throw off the slower
tempo version. For example, if your high tempo version has an A Postfill, an A Normal, and an A Fill, then a B Post, this will
mean that in the slower tempo version, the A Postfill and A Normal will become a single PostFill bar, which is fine, but the A
Fill and the B Post will also become a single bar, which will not work. This could then mess up everything that came after. It
would have been better if the high tempo version had an A Postfill, an A Normal, another A normal, then the A Fill, and then
the B Post. For this reason, if you know a drum part is going to be used at two tempos, it is quite a bit easier to record or piece
together the drum part with the slow tempo version in mind first, and this can then be expanded.
The other things you need to take into account are the count-in and endings. The count-in will be different for the two tempos,
so it’s best to record two completely different count-ins. The alternate one can be pasted onto the end of the file if necessary. For
endings, it’s also good to simply record two versions of them, which also can be at the end of your file.
Testing Your RealDrums Style
Once you have made your RealDrums style (or, depending on the level of completion, even during the making of it) you can
listen to it and test it in Band-in-a-Box. If your text file is named with the convention detailed in the introduction, and is located
in the correct directory, it should automatically appear in Band-in-a-Box. The easiest way to select your RealDrums style is to
enter the RealDrums Settings Dialog in Band-in-a-Box (Options | Preferences | RealDrums), or simply pressing the RealDrums
toolbar button). Make sure RealDrums are enabled, and then put a checkmark beside “For this song only, use this RealDrums
style.” If you then click on the RD button, a list of all available RealDrums should appear, and your style should be among
them. When you exit this dialog and play your song, you should be hearing your RealDrums style.
You can make and save changes to the text file, and when you press play again in Band-in-a-Box, any changes in the text file
will take effect. If, however, you make any changes to the wave file, the wave file needs to be reloaded for the changes to take
effect. To do this, simply select a song that uses different RealDrums, press play. Then stop and reload the song you were
working on.
Adjusting volume levels
If the balance between the RealDrums and the MIDI instruments needs to be adjusted, you can do this by simply adjusting the
dbadjust= setting in your text file, saving it, and pressing play again in Band-in-a-Box. You can continue to do this until you
have found a good balance.
For the volume levels of the shots and pushes, the best way to test this is by testing one at a time. If you have more than one shot
or push, you can “comment-out” all but one, then you will always be hearing only that shot or push. For example, let’s assume
you have three shots entered:
Shot,0,82,120,547,1,110
Shot,0,83,188,1151,1,90
Shot,0,85,380,1058,3,90
To test the first one, add a semicolon to the beginning of the 2nd and 3rd lines:
Shot,0,82,120,547,1,110
;Shot,0,83,188,1151,1,90
;Shot,0,85,380,1058,3,90
Band-in-a-Box will therefore ignore those lines, and you will only hear the first shot. You can then adjust the volume level until
you have it right, then do the same with the second shot, etc.

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Developer Mode
It is also extremely useful when testing RealDrums styles to use “Developer mode.” This is a checkbox in the RealDrums
settings. When it is turned on, Band-in-a-Box does two things. First of all it spell-checks your text file when you play a song. If
it finds an error, it reports the error to you before beginning the song. When Developer mode is off, if there are typos in the text
file, the entire pattern definition is simply ignored. For example, if you misspell “pattern” as “pattrn,” you will see an error
message when you start that will tell you the typo as well as the line number where you can find it in the text file. When you
press OK, the song resumes.
The other thing that developer mode does is generate a “DrumAudioResults.txt” text file every time you press play. This text
file tells you exactly what patterns from your text file were picked for every Band-in-a-Box bar. The file also has other global
and statistical information. This information can be extremely valuable as you fine-tune your style.
Developer mode for RealDrums enhanced. (Note: This feature is only for those people developing their own RealDrums
files). If the file C:\bb\NumberedDeveloperFiles.txt exists, the DrumAudioResults.txt with information get numbered and
written to C:\bb\Results folder (Note: you need to create a C:\bb\Results folder first).
DrumAudioResults.txt file
The first information that the DrumAudioResults.txt file gives you is global information about the style and song. It tells you the
wave file that was used, the song tempo, the total number of bars, and the total number of times you’ve played the song in the
current session.
The next information it displays is a separate line for every bar of the song. The first item for every bar is the actual bar number
in the song, but the type of information that is displayed after that depends on whether the bar represents the start of a pattern, or
a subsequent bar in a multi-bar pattern.
If the file C:\bb\NumberedDeveloperFiles.txt exists, the DrumAudioResults.txt file with information gets numbered and written
to C:\bb\Results folder.
Note: You need to create a C:\bb\Results folder first.
Here is an example of a bar where a pattern begins:
Bar# 12,relbar=4, MaxBars=5, Chose pat#21, line #26
Normal,a sub.,mask=2,dur#bars=2, wrote 2,WavBar=14, Candidates=11 ,time=0:26
Here is an example of a bar where a pattern is continuing:
Bar #13 WavBar=15 ,time=0:28
For bars where patterns begin, here are the items that follow the bar number:
1. relbar=x
This number represents the number of bars since the last part marker. This number therefore determines whether or not Normal
patterns with masks assigned can be used. For example, if relbar=4, a normal pattern with a mask of 0, 2 or 4 could be chosen,
but patterns with masks of 1, 3, 5, 6, etc. could not be chosen.
2. MaxBars=x
This number represents the number of bars to the next part marker. Since patterns cannot cross part markers, any patterns that
have a duration greater than the MaxBars= amount cannot be chosen.
3. Chose pat#x, line #y
This is the actual pattern selected, shown in two different ways so that it’s easy to identify in the text file. If you count down
from the first pattern in the text file, pat#x will show you how many patterns to count to find the one that was used and does not
take the global info at the beginning of the file into account. Line #y shows you the actual line of the text file, which would
include lines for the global settings and any comment lines. If your text editor has line numbers, this is the easiest way to find
the pattern that was chosen.
4. Type, subsection, and mask
The next information is the type (Normal, PostFill, etc.), subsection (A or B) and mask of the pattern chosen.
5. dur#bars=x, wrote y
The dur#bars= amount tells you the number of bars in the pattern, and the “wrote y” amount tells you the actual amount of bars
written. In most cases, this number should be the same, because Band-in-a-Box will always try and keep the defined patterns
intact. Sometimes, however, multi-bar patterns may need to be cut short, for example if it needs a 1-bar pattern but you have
only designated 2-bar patterns.
6. WavBar=x
This tells you the bar of the actual style wave file that was used for the current Band-in-a-Box bar. Remember that this is using –
1 based numbering.
7. Candidates=x
This tells you how many possible patterns there were for Band-in-a-Box to choose from for the current bar. If there were 3 or
less possible candidates, this line appears instead as “FEWCandidates=“. This lets you know that perhaps there are not enough

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of a certain type of pattern. As long as there is at least 1, you will not get any actual errors, but for the sake of variety, the more
possibilities the better. If there are no possible candidates, you will get an error message “******* Unable to pick a drum audio
bar for bar #x”. In this case, you need to examine your text file to see why this is occurring. It could be because there are simply
not enough patterns defined, but it could also be because of the overuse of the “barblocked” feature.
8. time=
This tells you the time in minutes and seconds where the bar is located. This is useful if you have rendered a file, and you are
listening to the rendered audio file for problems.
For bars where patterns are continuing, the only items shown are “WavBar=x” and “time=“. The one exception is where Fills
are concerned, in which case you may see one of two messages tagged on to the end of the line. “BB song has fill, WAV is at
end of multi bar pattern. WAV file has a fill also” means that a Fill was designated in the text file, and the current pattern is
ending with that Fill. The other message you may see is “*** BB song has no fill, but WAV has a fill ***(Could be Error2 if
mask0)” This means that Band-in-a-Box has recognized that a bar that is designated as a Fill occurred within the pattern, but not
at a place where a Fill is required. Fills often sound good 4 bars into phrases, even if no fill has been designated, so in these
cases, this could be fine. If, however, the Fill sounds out-of-place, you made need to examine this further in your text file.
At the end of the DrumAudioResults.txt file there is statistical information about the song you just played. Because of the
random nature of styles, this information will likely be different every time you play the same song, however you may see some
patterns develop that can help you fine tune your style.
The total bars will always be the same for the same song, but the number of patterns written will be different depending on how
many short or long patterns were randomly selected. The average bars per pattern gives you an overview of the length of
patterns selected. Long patterns are desirable because they generally sound more consistent, while short patterns are desirable
because they lend themselves to greater variation. It’s therefore good to get a balance between the two, and a good average is
between 2 and 4 bars.
It’s also good to have a high average candidates amount, as this is also a sign that your style will have good variation. If any
Band-in-a-Box bars had 3 or less patterns to choose from, they were flagged as “FEWCandidates,” and the total number is listed
at the bottom. This lets you know if you need to define more patterns. “MultiBarPatternPercent=“ simply lets you know the
setting you have entered in your text file.
Using your RealDrums style in Band-in-a-Box
As we have shown above, you can select your RealDrums style for a particular song in the RealDrums Settings. It is also
possible to assign your RealDrums style to a particular Band-in-a-Box style. This is done in the StyleMaker. If you have either a
new or existing Band-in-a-Box style open in the StyleMaker, simply select “Style | Misc. Settings” or press Ctrl+F10. This
opens the Misc Style Settings dialog. At the bottom of this is the RealDrums Settings.

Example 11: RealDrums settings in the StyleMaker.

You can enable “Style uses RealDrums” in order to designate a RealDrums style. If your style is in the correct directory, it
should appear when you press the “RD” button. You can then select your RealDrums style, and whenever the current style is
played, it will use your RealDrums style (provided that RealDrums are enabled). There are also additional volume controls here.
If you have your dB setting exactly where you want it in your style file, but with this particular Band-in-a-Box style you want it
a bit higher or lower, you can enter a setting here. There are also fields for adjusting the “A” or “B” subsection volumes only.
You can also remove the check mark from either “Allow ‘a’ substyle RealDrums” or “Allow ‘b’ substyle RealDrums,” which
means that for this style, the one with the checkmark remaining will be used for the entire song, regardless of what substyle is
currently called for in the song.

The Harmony Maker

The Harmony Maker allows you to create or edit your own or existing harmonies. This can be used in the program to
harmonize melodies or for live playing on the Thru channel. Sophisticated options control usage of passing harmonies (diatonic,
dominant approach and chromatic), drop octave voicings (e.g., drop 2), octave doubling, patch selection, and more.
You can open the Harmony Maker by pressing the [Edit] button in the Select Melody Harmony dialog.

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You will see the voices down the left side of the dialog.
1: Voice 1 is the melody.
2: Voice 2 is a chord tone below the melody
3: Voice 3 is 2 chord tones below the melody
4: Voice 4 is 3 chord tones below the melody
(5): Voice 5 is an additional chord tone usually the 9th or 11th in the scale. (This is rarely used.)
Mel.Doub: This is used to double the melody.
MelDoub2: This is also used to double the melody.
LH Chord: The LH chord feature is not implemented in the current version.
Each harmony can use up to 3 channels.
Harmony Channel A, B, and C. If your harmony only has one instrument, then you will use Channel A for all the voices. If your
harmony uses Flute and Bass, then you could use Flute on Channel A and Bass on Channel B.
Tip: When you want to hear the harmony as you are developing it, have a song with a melody playing before you enter the Harmony Maker.
After you have made changes to the harmony, hear the changes by pressing the [Update] button.
Settings for Each Voice

Chan.: A 1-instrument harmony will use Channel A only. Additional instruments can use Channel B and C.
Tip: These channels are set to numbers in the Harmony Channels Dialog, accessible by selecting the [Harmony] button under the Options |
Preferences | MIDI Channels, options… menu.
Octave: This allows the harmony to “drop-down” or “go up” by a number of octaves. This octave change will only happen in a
certain range, as chosen in the LOW and HIGH settings.
Tip: There is also an Overall Harmony Octave setting that changes the octave of the entire harmony setting (accessible by pressing the [More]
button).
O. Double (Octave Double): This setting lets you double any voice. Usually, you want to do this by doubling an octave below
(i.e., octave = -1), but you can set the octave from -2 to +2. The doubling will always be on the same channel, if you want a
different instrument to double the voice, and then use the Melody Doubling Voices.
V. Boost (Velocity Boost): This allows you to increase or decrease the velocity (loudness) of each voice, to make the voice
stand out more or less in the harmony. Default = 0.
Patches: The Patches setting at the bottom allows you to assign a patch to the harmony. If you set “No patch,” the harmony
won’t change the patch. This is a useful setting for making a generic harmony that doesn’t change the patch of the Melody or
Thru channel, for example.
[Update]: Changes that you make to the harmony settings won’t take effect until you press this button.
[Copy] [Paste]: You may Copy a Harmony to the clipboard, and then move to a new harmony and Paste the harmony to the
new location.
[Save] [Save As]: Because the harmony is saved automatically for you, you won’t need to ever press these buttons. All the 256
harmonies are saved in a single .har file called DEFAULT.HAR. If you have run out of harmonies, you can start a new harmony

Chapter 14: User Programmable Functions 341

file by pressing the [Save As] button. For example, if you make a third-party disk of add-on harmonies, save it as your name
MYNAME.HAR. Then you can load in your bank of harmonies (from the Harmonies | Harmonies Editor | Edit a Harmonies
File) without disrupting the existing DEFAULT.HAR file.
[Export] [Import]: Each .har file has 256 harmonies, so you probably need only 1 DEFAULT.HAR for all your harmonies.
However, if you’ve made a great harmony and want to give it to a friend, you can export a single harmony as an .h1 file. Your
friend can then import this harmony into their own .har file.
Test Chord: The best way to develop a harmony is to hear it as it’s playing. The preferred way to do this is to have a song
playing that has a melody in it. Any changes to the harmony will be heard on the melody as soon as you press the [Update]
button. You can also play along as the song is playing and hear the new harmony on the Thru channel. If you don’t want to have
a song playing, and want to hear the harmony, then set the [Test Chord] to a certain chord. If set to CMAJ7, then you can play
on the MIDI keyboard (with no song playing) and hear your harmony. This allows you to examine exactly what notes the
program is using to make your harmony.
Press the [More] button to launch the Additional Harmony Options dialog.
Use Close Harmony: This only applies to 2 and 3-part harmonies.
If set to = 0 it will use only close harmonies, mainly 3rds for 2-part harmonies.
If set to = 1 it will use mostly 3rds, with some 6ths for 2-part harmonies.
If set to = 99 it will use mostly 6ths, with some 3rds for 2-part harmonies.
If set to = 100 it will use only wide harmonies, mainly 6ths for 2-part harmonies.
If set to > 2 < 98 it will vary between close and open harmonies.
Use Passing Chords (melody) (DEFAULT = 100 %): Band-in-a-Box will sort out when
to use passing harmonies, based on factors like the duration of the note, the next note, the
chord tone, the velocity, previous notes, and other factors. You can visually see when the
harmony is using a passing chord. The harmony display is usually blue, but when there is
a passing chord, it displays as RED. If you don’t want passing chords, set this value to 0.
Lowest Harmony Note: You can set a lowest note for the harmony to play. When the
melody is low, harmonies begin to sound “muddy,” so you can avoid the harmony being
played below a certain note.
Overall Harmony Octave: This sets the overall octave of the harmony. For example, in the 5-part Trumpets harmony the
harmony is always be played an octave higher than the recorded melody. This is because the 5-part harmony is spread over 2
octaves.
No Harmony if duration less than xx milliseconds: You can specify a harmony to only occur for notes longer than a given
duration. If every note is harmonized unrealistic harmonies result, since a piano player doesn’t harmonize notes of a short
duration. You can specify a harmony to only occur for notes longer than a given duration. Notes shorter than that will not be
harmonized. There are also options for how the program “fixes” the harmony when chord changes occur during a sustained note
harmony.
OK to make new harmony with new chord: Most harmonies have a feature that changes the pitch of the harmony voices
under the Melody note when the chord changes if the underlying voice wouldn’t be a chord tone. For some harmonies it would
be unrealistic for the instruments to change the inner voicings in this manner. Deselect this option and the voices that conflict
with the new chord stop playing instead of changing to new notes.
Use Guitar Harmony Voicings: Harmony Maker will use real guitar chord voicings that display correctly on the guitar
fretboard. Selecting this checkbox means that guitar chord voicings will be used, instead of any other voicings specified in the
Harmony Maker. Check out Harmony #32 (J Pass) for an example of this
Use voicings in 4ths: Modern jazz harmonies often voice chords in 4ths. For example, a C chord with C melody
might be voiced C, G, D, A, E. You can select 4ths voicings easily in Band-in-a-Box to harmonize the Melody,
Soloist, or Thru parts using 3, 4, or 5-part voicings in 4ths. We’ve added presets for these harmonies, so you can
easily select them. Use these sophisticated 4ths harmonies on your existing melodies to create a new sound.
Tip: To quickly hear what some of the 4ths harmonies, sound like, look in the C:\bb\Documentation\Tutorials\Tutorial - BB2005 folder for pre-
made songs with 4ths harmonies.

The Soloist Maker

This module allows you to define your own Soloists. For example, let’s say you want to create a Soloist in a style similar to
John Coltrane - the legendary jazz saxophonist. The Soloist Maker allows you to define the parameters essential to the particular
Soloist’s playing, such as instrument range (i.e., tenor saxophone), extra legato playing, playing more on top of the beat than
most jazz musicians, and playing straighter 8th notes than usual swing 8th notes.
In addition, you can set phrasing options, such as how long the phrase should be, and how much “space” to leave between
phrases. You can also set how “outside” the playing should be. (For Coltrane it would be set to maximum!)

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 Access the Soloist Maker by pressing the Soloist Maker [Edit] button within the Select Soloist dialog.

Tip: To share Soloists with your friends, use the [Export] button to save your Soloist to a disk, and use the [Import] button to bring in a Soloist
from a disk. You can save your Soloist to another Soloist file (*.s1) by pressing the [Save As] button.

Insert the title of your Soloist in the Title box, and any memo note you wish to add. (The Num field will be filled in for you.)
For the Memo box, you can put in information like extra legato, straighter 8th notes, on top of the beat, laid back, etc.
The Soloist is box allows you to define what type of notes the Soloist will play (i.e., swing 8th notes, straight 8th notes, 16th
notes, etc.)
Choose ST2 Database: There are several databases of Solo ideas to choose from. The [*.ST2] button will launch an Open File
dialog for the C:\bb\Soloists folder where you can select a database (ST2 or ST3) appropriate for the type of song the Soloist
will be playing over (e.g., J_SWING.ST2 for jazz swing songs).
Note: If you have an .ST3 database available for the style of soloing you want to generate, you can still choose the .ST2, and the program will
automatically substitute the appropriate .ST3 file if, (a) it is available and, (b) you have selected the “Use Large Soloist files” checkbox in the
More Soloist & Melodist Settings dialog.
Patch Change: Press the [Choose] button in the Soloist Editor to select the instrument the Soloist should play (i.e., Tenor
Saxophone). You may also select an instrument from the “Patch Change” window but selecting an instrument with the [Choose]
button also fills in the specific note range for that instrument.
Harmony: If you wish to have a harmonized solo, select the harmony type by clicking on the Harmony box and choosing from
the drop-down list.
Change Instrument: This allows you to quickly set how the Soloing will “take turns” with other instruments. Use this option to
change instruments every chorus, every 4, 8, 16 bars, etc. Press the [Set..] button to choose the instruments you want to change
to, including the appropriate note rang for each instrument. The Sub-Soloist checkboxes are for use ONLY with add-on hybrid
Soloists such as the ones found on the SOLOISTPAK for Band-in-a-Box. These checkboxes can be used to “sub” a different
instrument and playing style in a Soloist which contains more than one playing style, such as BG_BAND.ST2 found on Soloist
Disk Set #5. For more information on additional Soloist Disk Sets and the additional features available with them, contact PG
Music.
To modify (if required) the “Phrase Length,” “Space Length,” and “Outside Range”
parameters, simply click in the box you wish to change and type-in the new number.
For example, change the “Legato Boost %” to 10 %. This will add 10% to the
duration of the notes.
Adjust the lateness by -5 to have the Soloist play the notes more “on the beat” than
other jazz Soloists.
Adjust the 8th note spacing by -5 to have your Soloist play 8th notes in a more even
feel than other jazz Soloists.

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The “Increase Velocity” setting will increase the velocity of each note in the solo by the value entered or DECREASE the
velocity if a negative value is entered.
Maximum notes in 1 beat: You can control the maximum number of notes per quarter note that the Soloist will use. For
example, you can set a “Rock Guitar” Soloist to use nothing shorter than 16th notes. This would produce less “guitar hero” solos
with bursts of 32nd notes etc. Or you could create a jazz solo that uses only quarter notes or longer to help with sight-reading or
student study.
Use the [Import] button to bring a Soloist in from a disk and use the [Export] button to save your Soloist to a disk to share
Soloists with your friends.
Individual Soloists can be copied and pasted to make variations with the [Copy] and [Paste] buttons.
The Soloists are saved in the DEFAULT.SOL file, but if you want to save them in another file, press the [Save As] button.
Pressing the [OK] button will update the DEFAULT.SOL file with the current settings.
Editing RealTracks Soloists
Press the [More] button in the Soloist Editor. This launches the Edit Extra Soloist Information dialog, which allows you to
change parameters about the RealTracks.

If you have the number of the RealTracks instrument to edit, you can select it by clicking on the [RealTracks #] button and
typing in the numbers.
The [< Previous #] [Next # >] buttons will step back and forth through the list of RealTracks Soloists to make your selection.
The Artist Name is given, and also the Style Names for styles that use the particular instrument.
The Holds Number and Holds Number ‘b’ Substyle identify the location of the files played when shots or held chords are
entered into a song. The “Normal” column applies to the normal version of RealTracks (e.g., an electric guitar RealTracks that
was recorded with an amplifier), and the “Direct Input” column applies to the Direct Input version of RealTracks (e.g., an
electric guitar that was recorded directly, bypassing an amplifier).
Holds dB offset ‘a’ substyle / Holds dB offset ‘b’ substyle: The volume level of the Holds that play can be adjusted in a range
of +/- 64 dB. There are separate settings for “a” and “b” substyles.
Audio Reverb for this RT: The Audio Reverb for the instrument can be adjusted.
[Set Medley RT]: Similar to the Soloist Medleys, it is possible to have multiple RealTracks instruments change in sequence.
Normal/Half/Double/Triple Time: The new élastique Pro V2 time stretching and pitch transposition engine by
zplane.development expands the possibilities for playing RealTracks in half, double, or even triple-time.
Technical Tip: This information is stored in a file called RTExtra.bin. If you plan to change these settings and want to preserve them, you
should make a backup copy of this file, because PG Music upgrades may overwrite it.

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Fill riff gaps automatically: If this is enabled, the settings below will be determined automatically based on the type
(rhythm/soloist/background, 8th/16th, even/swing, etc.)
Min gap ticks for stretching: For filling silent gaps between riffs, the end of the previous riff will be stretched. This is the
minimum duration of the gap in ticks for this to take effect.
Max gap ticks for stretching: For filling silent gaps between riffs, the end of the previous riff will be stretched. This is the
maximum duration of the gap in ticks for this to take effect.
Max source ticks for stretching: For filling silent gaps between riffs, the end of the previous riff will be stretched. This is the
maximum duration of audio in the previous riff (in ticks @ 1200ppq) to be used for stretching. A longer duration will result in a
better-quality stretch but should be set to a shorter duration to avoid including note starts.
Force Use +/- files if available: If this is checked, RealTracks will be generated using source files that have + or - in the file
name.
Ending type (ends on bar/beat) specifies the ending type of the RealTracks and the beat that the last held chord occurs on. Do
not edit this value.
Exclude Ending being truncated to match other RT endings is used for RealTracks that have various endings, such as
soloing RealTracks. Do not change this setting.
For RealTracks that are variants, such as Bluesy variants, the parent is the non-bluesy variant or the main RealTrack that uses
the database. Do not change the Parent RealTracks setting.
Simpler Variation is available by turning off embellishment is a PG Music setting only and is set if a simpler RealTracks is
available.
If Held Chords only for this RealTrack is checked, the RealTrack will only play held chords instead of the normal style.
If Force this RealTrack to a Direct Input Guitar is set, the RealTrack will always use a Direct Input guitar.
This is a MIDI SuperTrack sets the soloist to play as MIDI SuperTrack instead of a RealTrack.
12 Key RealTracks (recorded in 12 keys): If this is checked, the RealTracks were recorded in all 12 keys. This is set by PG
Music.
If Hi-Q RealCharts Notation (High Accuracy) is selected, highly accurate and readable notation in available including new
graphical markings for bends, slides, hammer-ons, and pull-offs, for the RealTrack. This is set by PG Music.
If Includes video RealTracks is checked, a video is available for the RealTrack. This is set by PG Music.
If This is a MIDI SuperTrack is checked, the Soloist plays as a MIDI SuperTrack, not a RealTrack.
SuperPatch to use (tgs file) allows you to load a custom synth with the MIDI SuperTrack.
PRT TGS / PRT TGS DI: These fields show the .tgs files for the Playable RealTracks.
If TGS is a match is checked, the instrument in the .tgs was recorded by the same artist and at the same recording session as the
RealTrack.
10 easy steps to make a Soloist
1. Open the Select Soloist dialog by pressing the [Soloist] Button.
2. Select an undefined Soloist in your list of Soloists and press the [Edit] button.
3. Insert the title of your Soloist and any memo note you wish to add. The Num field will be filled in for you. Call this one
Bebop Saxophone. The memo might say, “extra legato, straighter 8th notes, on top of the beat.”
4. Choose the type of Soloist (e.g., swing 8th notes, straight 8th notes, 16th notes, etc.) This should be set to Swing 8ths.
5. Press the [Choose] button to select the instrument the Soloist should play (e.g., Tenor Saxophone).
Tip: You may also select an instrument from the Patch Change window but selecting an instrument with the [Choose] button will also fill in
the note range information specific to that instrument. You will notice that the correct range for tenor saxophone has been filled in to the
Note Range settings.
6. Modify (if required) the phrase length, space length, and outside range parameters.
7. Change the Legato Boost to 10 %. This will add 10% to the duration of the notes. Press the [Help] button in the Soloist
Editor window if you require additional details.
8. Adjust the Lateness by -5. This will play the notes more “on the beat” than other jazz Soloists.
9. Adjust the 8th Note Spacing by -5. This will play the 8th notes in a more even feel than other jazz Soloists.
10. Press [OK], and you’re done. Then, give the program a few moments to load its “knowledge base” of solo ideas and new
parameters, and a few moments more to analyze the chords. Playback will begin automatically as soon as the Soloist has
performed the operations mentioned above.

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The Melodist Maker
In addition to the Melodists supplied with the program, this module lets you define or edit your own Melodists. You can choose
the parameters to control the type of chords, melody and intro to be generated, as well as a number of settings controlling song
form, theme continuity, endings type, anticipations, feel, style, harmony, Soloist, patch changes and more.
Press the Melodist Maker [Edit] button from the Select Melodist dialog to launch the Melodist Editor.

The Num selection box allows you to select the

Melodist that you’d like to edit.
The top area of the dialog also allows you to set
the Title of the Melodist and supply a Memo.
Choose ST2 Database: Select the associated ST2
database for the Melodist. Some ST2 Melodist
databases are MEL1.ST2=Jazz Swing (8th notes),
MELPOP1.ST2 (Pop Ballad, 16th notes),
MELWLZ1.ST2 (Waltz, 8th notes), and
MELROK1.ST2 (Rock, 8th notes).
Tip: Soloist databases also have extensions of ST2,
but they are not compatible with Melodists. Melodist
databases are easily identified; they all begin with
MEL.
The Patch Change area allows you to select an
instrument and Harmony, and to set Change
Instrument setting for when you want to change
to a new Melody patch (e.g., Each Chorus).
In the Change Style to .. window you can choose
a style for the Melodist and specify the feel for the
style in the .STY is box.
Legato Boost changes the legato (length) of the notes generated. Instruments like Saxophone have longer legato phrasing.
Increase lateness by (120ppq) refers to how much after the beat the notes are played. This is normally left at zero for
Melodists.
Increase 8th note spacing by (120ppq) is usually left at zero (0). If set to a nonzero value, the 8th notes will be farther apart
(based on units of 120 PPQ).
The rest of the settings in the Melodist Maker allow you to select options that control what type of melody will be generated.
Unique Themes: This is normally left at 100%. But if you want to force the Melodist to stick with the same theme throughout
the song, set this to a lower value (say 80%). It shouldn’t be set much lower than 80. Default = 100.
Unusual Placed Phrasing: The Melodist tries to make phrases that are appropriate for the position in the song. For example, the
first 2 bars of the melody are appropriate for “opening phrases.” But if you want to experiment with phrases that don’t follow
these rules, set the Unusual Placed Phrasing to a value higher than 0%. Default = 0.
Simple 1st and 2nd Endings: This setting only applies to Melodists that are using the jazz swing (MEL1.ST2) or waltz
(MELWLZ1.ST2) databases. This determines the % of time that endings of the A sections (in AABA forms) will be simple
endings (1 or 2 notes) instead of complete phrases. Usually, AABA tunes end with simple phrases at the end of the A section, so
this option is normally left at 80% or higher. Default = 80%.
Choose Unusual Chord Progressions: If set to a value other than zero, the Melodist will generate atypical chord progressions.
For example, instead of a Dm7 | G7 | Cmaj7, the Melodist might generate Dm7 | Db7 | Cmaj7 Am7. Default = 0.
Force Long Phrases: This determines the % of time that the Melodist will try to generate long phrases (4 bars or more). The
downside to setting it higher than 20 will be a loss of uniqueness in the phrases generated. The setting shouldn’t be set much
higher than 20. Default = 20.
Mix Minor and Major Chord Progressions: Typical major key chord progressions have progressions like (in the key of C)
Dm7 | G7 | Cmaj7, whereas in the key of Am, they would be | Bm7b5 | E7 | Am6. This setting determines how much the two
types of progressions should be mixed in a single song. Default = 0.
Chord Substitutions Throughout the Form: Normally an AABA song has identical chords for each A section. If this setting is
greater than zero, the Melodist will generate chord substitutions throughout the various A sections, while preserving the
identical melodies! Default = 0.
Number of Variations to Choose From: As the Melodist is determining what type of phrase to generate, it will narrow the
possibilities to the number of variations set in this variable. Setting a higher number results in more interesting melodies, but the
chord progressions are more unusual. Default = 15.

346 Chapter 14: User Programmable Functions

Tempo Range / Auto Tempo: The Tempo Range setting determines the tempo range that the tune will be created with (it will
be a random tempo in the range). The Auto Tempo setting must be set on the Melodist Selection screen for the tempo range to
work. Default from 110 to 180 bpm.
Transpose A2 Section: In songs with an AABA form, it is common for the second “A” section to be transposed. For example,
the first “A” section might be in the key of Eb, and the second would be transposed up to the key of Gb. Melodists store these
settings, and some Melodists are set to transpose the A2 sections. This setting determines the % chance that the song will be
generated with a transpose. The transpose will be usually 2, 3, or 4 semitones. The song will only get transposed if the A2
transpose setting isn’t set to “none” on the Melodist selection screen. Default = 30.
Anticipations in Phrases: Melodic phrases often begin a little before the beat. This is referred to as anticipation. This setting
determines what % of the phrases will be anticipated. Default = 20.
Always Use this Soloist: Since Melodists can also generate Solos, a specific Soloist can be set in this setting. If set to “0 - no
Soloist” the program will intelligently make a selection from all the Soloists in the list.
[Copy] [Paste]: Melodists can be copied and pasted to make new Melodists that are variations of each other.
[Export] [Import]: You can export (save) and import (load) individual as Melodists.M1 files. This would be useful if you
wanted to send a Melodist to a friend, for example.
[Save As]: The entire Melodist file, with up to 256 Melodists, can be saved to a .MEL file. The usual file is DEFAULT.MEL.
The DEFAULT.MEL file is saved every time the [OK] button is pressed, so you don’t need to explicitly save this file by the
[Save As] button unless you want to save alternate .MEL files and go beyond 256 Melodists.

The Guitarist Maker

Band-in-a-Box will intelligently arrange any melody to a guitar chord solo by inserting real guitar voicings throughout the piece.
There are many preloaded Guitarists to choose from, or you can customize existing Guitarists’ settings or make your own
Guitarists from scratch in the Guitarist Maker.
The Guitarist Maker is accessed from the Guitar window. Click on the [Chord Solo] button to open the Generate
Guitar Chord Solo dialog, and then press the Guitarist Maker [Edit] button.

Num: Select the Guitarist from this field.

Title: Title the Guitarist.
Memo: This field allows a 100-character memo
about the Guitarist.
Guitar Patch: Select the guitar patch in this field.
Frets To Move: If set to zero, the guitar chord
solo will be limited to chords that can be played
within the current position. If set to 5 (for
example), the chords will be limited to chords that
can be played within the current position and up
to 5 frets away from the current position.
Force Open Position: This option forces all the
guitar voicings to the open position. The
exception is when the Melody notes are so high
that they can’t be played using open position
voicings. If the Melody is in a high range, and
you want a “forced open position” you should
likely transpose the Melody to a lower octave
prior to generating the solo.
Note Duration thresholds: The settings for note duration thresholds to get a chord refer to how long a note must be before a
chord will be generated. (Quarter note = 120 ticks)

Looking at the settings above these would be interpreted as follows:

Chapter 14: User Programmable Functions 347

- If a note occurs and it is the “First Note of a New Chord” and the note is not followed by another note for at least 50 ticks
(120 ticks = 1 quarter note), then a chord will get voiced 90% of the time.
- If a note occurs (not the first note of a chord), that is on “Beat 1 of a bar,” and the note is not followed by another note for at
least 50 ticks (120 ticks = 1 quarter note) then a chord will get voiced 90% of the time.
- Similar interpretations for notes occurring on “Beat 2, 3 and 4.” You can see that the threshold is higher for notes on beat 2
and 4, which is how a guitar player makes chord solos.
- “Passing notes” are defined as short duration notes that aren’t on the beat and are followed by a note that is on the beat. In this
example, passing notes will never be voiced as chords since the tick threshold is set to zero.
Time Threshold to get a chord: A further threshold is applied to the possibility that a note is voiced to a chord. These are
defined as durations in milliseconds. In the settings shown, if the note occurs less than 100ms (Time to Previous Note) after the
previous note, the note will not be voiced as a chord. If the note is followed by another note within 80ms (Time to the next
note), the note will not be voiced as a chord.
Strumming: If the Guitar Chord is all played at the same time, it will sound as if it was plucked. Guitar playing is more
typically a strum.
- Speed of the Strummed Chords: If the setting is 80ms, then the guitar chord will be “strummed” over a period of
80milliseconds.
- Delay start time of strum by %: If the Delay start time is left at zero, the strum will end at the original time of the melody
note. If you set it to 50% delay, the strum will be in its midpoint at the original start time of the Melody note, while if it’s set
to 100%, the strum won’t start till the time of the original note. The most musical setting is about 50% delay. A delay of 0%
also sounds good and has the added advantage that it doesn’t shift the actual time of the Melody note (relevant if you keep
regenerating the solo on the Melody track).
[Plucked] / [Strummed]: Pressing these buttons will set the settings to preset values.
Chord Types to Include: You can decide which types of chords should be included in the chord solo.
- Best Chords: The most commonly played chords by pro guitarists.
- Good Chords: Popular alternate chords.
- Advanced Chords: Chords that are difficult to play, advanced voicings.
- Unusual Chords: Voicings that should be avoided in most cases but have some uses.
- Barre Chords: Chords that require the index finger to be played in a Barre position.
- Lenny B. Chords: This sets the percentage of shell-type Lenny B. voicings.
- Close Voice: This sets what percentage of chords will use close voicings.
- Include Open Strings: If set to “Never,” no chords that require and open string will be played. If set to “Favor,” it will play
open strings whenever possible.
OK to include chords with this # of notes: You can select the number of notes for chords to be included in the chord solo. In
the example above, chords with 2-6 notes will be included.
Embellish Chords: You can embellish chords.
- Embellish how often allows you to specify the frequency of embellishment.
- Embellishment types allows setting of the types of embellishments to do.
- Pop Guitarists should be set to use 9ths only. This will change C7 chords to C9 and Cm7 to Cm9.
- The “7ths/9ths” setting should be used for jazz. This adds the embellishments of C to Cmaj7 and Cm to Cm7.
- The “7/9/11/13” embellishment should be used for “Advanced Jazz” Guitarists add 11ths and 13ths voicings.
[Copy] [Paste] [Export] [Import]: Individual Guitarists can be copied, pasted, exported, or imported to/from disk.
The Guitarists are saved in the DEFAULT.GIT file, but if you want to save them in another file, press the [Save As] button.
Pressing the [OK] button will update the DEFAULT.GIT file with the current settings.

348 Chapter 14: User Programmable Functions

 Chapter 15: Reference
Band-in-a-Box Menu Descriptions
This chapter gives line-by-line descriptions for all Band-in-a-Box menus.

File Menu
New is used to blank the Chord Sheet and start a new song.
Open shows and opens all available file types (MGU, WAV, WMA, MP3, MID, KAR, CDG, and CDA). And it remembers
your preference, so you can restrict it to a certain file type.
Open Special opens a submenu with more options for opening songs.
Open Next Song and Open Previous Song will open the next/previous song in alphabetical order. If the song loaded has a file
name of “Paul,” choosing load-next-file will find the next file in alphabetical order after Paul, maybe it would be “Peter.”
Shift+F8 and Ctrl+Shift+F8 are the hotkeys for this.
Tip: If you’re working with a lot of Band-in-a-Box songs doing editing etc., remember the “Open Next Song” commands – they will save you a
lot of time!
Open (Using Standard Dialog) uses the standard Windows® dialog.
Open Filtered by Build-in Style lists only the songs in a folder with the current style.
Open with Melodies lists only the songs that have melodies (*.mg?).
Open Favorite Songs opens the dialog that shows the last 150 songs played.
Favorite Folders opens a list of recently used folders for quick access.
Open Karaoke (KAR) File allows you to open a Karaoke file, displaying the lyrics and chord symbols for the song.
Open SongPicker opens the SongPicker, which shows information for up to 60,000 songs. It has many filter features for
finding songs. You can also search songs that have similar chord progressions or melody fragments.
Open SongPicker in Current Folder opens the SongPicker in the current folder of the last loaded song.
Open SongPicker in Home Folder opens the SongPicker in the home folder, which is C:\bb\Songs or as set in the
SongPicker.
Open SongPicker in Favorite Folder launches the Favorite Folder dialog which allows you to choose any previously used
folder where a song was loaded from, and then open the SongPicker in that folder.
Open MIDI File loads a MIDI file into Band-in-a-Box and the MIDI file will play with the chords intelligently interpreted on-
screen. MIDI files read in Section Markers and show them as part markers.
Open MusicXML File imports a MusicXML file (.musicxml/.XML/.MXL) from your notation programs such as Finale,
Sibelius, and Guitar Pro to Band-in-a-Box.
Open ABC Notation Music File imports an ABC notation file.
Open Audio (WAV, WMA, MP3, WMV) will open an audio file in WAV, MP3, Windows® Media Player (WMA, WMV) or
CD Audio (CDA) format. Play back at 1/2, 1/4, or 1/8 speed for transcribing or analyzing.
Open Audio with Chords (WAV, WMA, MP3, WMV, CDA) will open a WAV, WMA, MP3, WMV, or CD Audio file and
also figure out the chords and bar lines.
Find File finds a Band-in-a-Box song (or any file that Band-in-a-Box can open), including filtering by words found in the file
name or any text in the file.
Revert to Saved reloads the current song in the last saved state.
Save Song saves the current song under original title.
Save Song as... is to save the current songs with a different name or in a different location.
Save Special opens a submenu with more options for saving songs.
Save Song with Patches and Harmony: All settings are normally saved with Band-in-a-Box files. If you want to save certain
patches with a song, then type in the number of the patch (instrument) that you would like. Leave the other instruments at zero
(0) for No Patch Change. Remember that - as with all other Band-in-a-Box functions - you use the General MIDI number for
the instrument, regardless of the synth you are using. You can also freeze selected tracks in this dialog.
Save Song as MIDI File saves the song as a Standard MIDI file. You can save in Type 1 (multi-tracks) or Type 0 (single
track) files. Karaoke MIDI files are also supported.
Save Song as MusicXML File: Band-in-a-Box supports MusicXML so you can easily export your Band-in-a-Box songs into
notation programs such as Finale, Sibelius, and Guitar Pro, while still retaining the chords from the Band-in-a-Box song.
Save Song as ABC Notation File allows you to save the song as an ABC notation file. ABC notation is the simple text-based
notation system used by musicians worldwide to store chords, melody, and lyrics of songs. You can find out more information
about the songs and ABC notation at abcnotation.com.

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 Save Song to Favorite Folder allows you to save the current song in one of your favorite folders.
Save Song(s) to Text on Clipboard or File(s): You can copy the current song, including the chords and other information
(title, key, tempo, form, style, etc.), as a text file or save it as a text file. You can also use a batch mode to apply the feature to
all songs in a folder.
Export as wav/wma/mp3/mp4/m4a renders the song in the audio format you choose and saves it to the specified location.
Email Song File(s) as Attachment(s) allows you to email a song (.MGU or .SGU), style (.STY and .STX) or rendered audio
file (m4a, wma, wav, mp3) as attachments.
Import opens a submenu with options for importing a file to the current song.
Import Melody from MIDI File allows you to import MIDI data from a file (*.MID) into the Melody track.
Import Melody from Clipboard allows you to import MIDI data that has been pasted into the clipboard (e.g., from a sequencer
such as PowerTracks) into the Melody track.
Import Soloist Part from MIDI File allows you to import MIDI data from a file (*.MID) into the Soloist track.
Import Soloist Part from Clipboard allows you to import MIDI data that has been pasted into the clipboard (e.g., from a
sequencer such as PowerTracks) into the Soloist track.
Import MusicXML File allows you to import a MusicXML file (*.musicxml, *.XML, *.MXL), to the current song. In the
dialog that opens after choosing a MusicXML file, select a track that you want to import. If you want to change the destination
track, right-click on a track and select Destination Track. Then, in the area below the track selection, select items that you want
to import from the MusicXML file. If you do not want all the tracks to be merged into the Melody track, disable the “Load all
XML tracks to Melody” option. The “# Bars in XML file to Skip” setting allows you to load the MusicXML file from a certain
bar. For example, a setting of 4 will load the MusicXML file from bar 5. When you are ready, press [OK], and the MusicXML
file will be imported to the current song.
Import Audio (WAV, WMA, MP3, WMV) allows you to import an audio file into your Band-in-a-Box song. A Mono or Stereo
audio file can be imported, optionally merging or replacing any existing Audio track.
Import Chords from PG Music MIDI File will read in the chord symbols from PG Music MIDI files made by programs like
Band-in-a-Box or PowerTracks Pro Audio. Note that it won’t read in the chords from a MIDI file that doesn’t have special
chord symbols typed in to it, i.e., it doesn’t interpret chords. If you want to interpret chords from any MIDI file, use the File |
Import | Import Chords from MIDI File option instead.
Import Chords from PG Music MIDI File on Clipboard: Chords from most PG Music programs can be copied to the
clipboard and imported with this command.
Import Chords from MIDI File (MIDI Chord Wizard) uses the MIDI File Chord Wizard to interpret chords from any MIDI
file, and also import tracks to the Melody and Soloist tracks.
Import MGU Song imports part or all of an existing Band-in-a-Box song to your current song, with options to specify source
and destination range, type of information to import (chords, melody, lyrics, etc.), and more.
Medley Maker opens the Medley Maker, allowing you automatically make a medley of Band-in-a-Box songs.
Load Style from StylePicker will open the StylePicker window with complete style information.
Load Style Special opens a submenu with options for loading a style.
Load a User Style from Disk: Styles can be selected and loaded with Long File Name dialogs.
Choose Styles Similar to Current opens the StylePicker window showing a list of styles that are similar to the current style.
Select Favorite Styles opens the Favorite Styles dialog, which contains a list of the most recent 150 styles used. Since these
are ordered based upon how often they are used, we call this the “favorite styles” list. Since you can also store user-definable
favorite lists, we also refer to them as Set Lists.
Load Previous Style / Load Next Style: These functions, like the Load Next Song function, load in the previous (or next) style
in alphabetical order of the file name.
Find a RealTracks Replacement for current MIDI style will find the best RealTracks replacement for your current MIDI style
and ask if you want to use it.
Load Style demo for current style loads the demo song for the currently loaded style. This feature is also available with a click
on the name of the style on the main screen. The menu that displays will include the option to “Load Song Demo” for the
current style.
Style is Enabled: This item will Enable or Disable the style. When disabled, the name of the style will have an X at the
beginning, which indicates a disabled style. The disabled style won’t sound or write any data to the MIDI file. The most
common use for disabling a style is when a MIDI file is loaded to the Melody track. Then the style won’t sound and conflict
with the full arrangement on the Melody track.
OK to load style with songs allows you to keep a style in memory. This way, all subsequent songs that are loaded will not
change the style (even if they have a different associated style), so you can easily play songs in the same style. If you’ve found
a new favorite style, you can try it out in all kinds of songs without having to reload the style each time. For example, let’s say

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 we’ve discovered the GARNER style, and want to try it out on many different songs. Select File | Load Style Special | OK to
load styles with songs to ensure the item is NOT checked. Then when you load a song, the saved style associated with the song
doesn’t load and the song will play in GARNER.STY. You can over-ride this style by loading in another style using the [Style]
button or the File | Load Style Special menu. The new style loaded will stay in until you choose another one, or until you turn
off the forced styles option and load a song that uses a different style.
Style Aliases: You can create an alias so that when Band-in-a-Box looks for a style, it will load its alias instead, so when you
have found a new favorite style just change the alias and you don’t have to change all of your songs.
Restore Style Prior to Style Alias reverts to the original MIDI style after you have used a RealTracks replacement. It also turns
off the style alias feature for the song.
Auto-replace MIDI styles with RealTracks styles when songs loaded: If you have made a lot of songs using older MIDI
styles, and would prefer that they play with RealTracks, you can now do this easily by selecting the menu option File | Load
Style Special | Auto-Replace MIDI styles with RealTracks styles when songs loaded. Then, if you have the needed RealTracks
installed, your MIDI style will be intelligently replaced with a RealTracks style. There is also a manual option to do this on as-
needed basis, disable the feature for a certain song, or to reverse it if you prefer the MIDI style.
Suggest RealTracks style replacements when songs are loaded: This feature is the manual option for Auto-Replace MIDI
styles. It suggests RealTracks style replacements but doesn’t automatically load them. That is done manually from the
RealTracks toolbar button menu. It is disabled when “Auto-Replace” is checked.
StyleMaker opens a submenu with options for making and editing styles.
Make a New Style allows you to begin to create a new style, using the StyleMaker feature. See online Tutorial #6: StyleMaker
- Making a New Style.
Edit a Style allows you to edit an existing style (*.STY) from disk. The resulting style can then be saved with the same name
or a different name. This function uses the StyleMaker. See online Tutorial #5: StyleMaker – Editing Styles.
Edit Current Style allows you to quickly get into the StyleMaker to edit the current style. The current style is the style that is
displayed in the Style Box on the main screen. Usually, you would use Ctrl+Shift+F9 to do this quickly. See online Tutorial
#5: StyleMaker – Editing Styles.
Save Current Song (except muted instruments) as a Style saves the style that is in use to the C:\bb\Styles folder with the parts
that are currently selected. If, for example, a MIDI style has had RealTracks added, the RealTracks will be saved with the style
and the style name will get an = sign prefix. So, if you were to add an acoustic bass RealTracks to the ZZJAZZ style and save
it with this feature, the name would change to =ZZJAZZ.STY. It also saves MIDI SuperTracks and Hi-Q instruments (or other
TGS files), and automatically calculates dB offsets based on volume, taking existing offsets into account. Press the [Rebuild]
button in the StylePicker and the new style name will be added to the list of Other Styles.
Make a Hybrid Style: The “Hybrid Styles” feature allows you to play and create a style that has instruments from up to five
different styles! You can, for example, play a song with a Reggae bass, Rock drums, Salsa piano, or any combination of up to
five styles that you want.
Style Wizard (Create Style from MIDI File) launches the Style Creation Wizard, which automatically converts a MIDI file
(.MID) to a Band-in-a-Box Style (.STY). Simply open a MIDI file, select your options, and press “Save-As Style.”
File Utilities opens a sub-directory of file utilities.
Change Directory (Path) opens the Browse Folder window where a new directory can be selected.
Run Explorer in Current Directory launches the Explorer. Pressing Ctrl+Alt+F3 is the usual way to get to this item and will
quickly open Explorer. Once the Explorer is open, you could double-click on a song or style to load it in. (Assuming that there
is a file association for Band-in-a-Box songs and styles made in Explorer.)
Run Explorer (Choose Folder) opens a Browse for Folder dialog where you can choose a folder.
Auto-Rename Song Files to Long File Names will rename all song files in the current directory to long file names, using the
song title as the name.
Rename any BB File on Disk or Rename Current Song File Name allows you to rename files.
Delete file from disk deletes a song file without exiting the program
“Nuke It!” (Delete current song file from list) deletes the current song.
Associate File Types (Songs, Styles) with Windows / Remove File Associations (Songs, Styles) with Windows will associate
(or remove associations for) the file types for Band-in-a-Box songs and styles in Explorer. Once set, you can double-click on a
song or style in Explorer and Band-in-a-Box will open with that song or style.
Batch Create MIDI Fles convert an entire folder of BB songs to MIDI files. You can choose the file names to be based either
on the original file name or song title name. This feature is also accessed with the [Batch mode…] button in the MIDI file
dialog.
Change All Songs in Current Folder to a Specific Tempo will set all the songs in the folder to the tempo you enter, but it is
NOT UNDOABLE. (Tempos can be reset individually.)
Change all Songs in Current Folder to a Specific Style Name is also NOT UNDOABLE.

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 Change all song in Current Folder to Default Mix applies the default mix as set in the Master right-click context menu. This
is not undoable.
Print Song (Chords/Melody) opens the Print Options dialog.
Print Song in Lead Sheet Mode prints the song using the Lead Sheet options (such as fake sheet).
Print Multiple Songs prints all songs, or just selected songs, in a song directory.
Exit is to exit completely from the Band-in-a-Box program.
The last five files opened are listed at the bottom of the File menu, numbered 0 through 4.

Edit Menu
Note: If you select (highlight) a region by dragging the mouse and then choose one of the Edit menu commands, the dialog will automatically
adjust to the correct values, based on the region that you’ve highlighted.
Undo and Redo allow you to undo or redo most operations including track generation.
Cut functions like a delete command to remove bars from a song.
Copy is to copy chords to a clipboard. Copying a section of chords can be done in the same manner as copying text in a
Windows® word processor. To select the region to copy, place the mouse cursor at the bar to begin the selection. Then, holding
down the left mouse button, drag the mouse over the region. As you do this you will see that the region will be inverted (i.e.,
looks dark). When you have selected the desired region of chords to copy, release the mouse button. Copy the selected region to
the clipboard by using the keystrokes Ctrl+C or selecting the Edit | Copy menu item.
Copy Special opens a submenu with more options for copying.
Copy From…To… / Copy Breaks (Rests/Shots/Holds): One of the best ways to copy chords is the Copy From… To…
command, or pressing Alt+C, which launches the Copy Chords and/or melody dialog. The Copy Rest command will similarly
bring up the Copy Rests dialog to allow copying of rests. These dialogs allow you to specify the number of bars to copy, the
location to copy to, and the option to copy the Chords, Melody, Soloist, and/or Lyrics.
Copy/Move Tracks allows copying or moving data (audio and/or MIDI) from one track to another.
Copy Song(s) to Text on Clipboard or File(s) allows you to select the items to include when you copy the chords in the song.
It also allows you to copy or save all songs in a specific folder to the clipboard or save them as text file(s).
Paste: Assuming you have already copied some chords to the clipboard, you are then ready to paste the copied chords into
another part of your Chord Sheet. Move the highlight cell to the bar to begin the paste of chords. Copy the chords at the
highlighted bar by using the keystrokes Ctrl+V or selecting the Edit | Paste menu item.
Tip: The copied section remains in the clipboard and can be used repeatedly. If your song is in the form verse-verse-bridge-verse, you can
simply copy the first verse to the clipboard, and then paste in the other verses. The clipboard contents remain even if you load in a new song,
so you can copy and paste between songs.
Paste Special - from Clipboard Text to Song(s) allows you to select the items from the clipboard and the destination of the
paste. You can paste them into a new song or the current song, or save them as a new song. If multiple songs are copied on the
clipboard, you can use an option to save them all as song files.
Erase From… To… launches the Erase Chords and/or melody dialog, which allows you to specify the number of bars to erase
and option to erase the Chords, Melody, Soloist, and/or Lyrics.
Insert Bar(s) inserts a certain number of bars into the Chord Sheet.
Delete Bar(s) removes a certain number of bars from the Chord Sheet.
Nudge Chords/Melody feature allows moving a range of chords by any number of bars and beats.
Song Form opens a submenu with options for a song form.
Song Form Dialog (Arrange song like AABACAA) allows you to define sections of a song (A, B, C, etc.), and then rearrange
the song by typing the form you want (e.g., AABABAACA.)
Settings for This Song opens the Song Settings dialog for settings such as endings, tags, style variations, pushes, rests, and
chord embellishments to make your song interesting and varied. The dialog can also be accessed by pressing the [Song
Settings] button on the main screen.
Repeats/Codas/1st-2nd Endings: You can add repeats and endings so that the Lead Sheet window will display and print using
1st /2nd endings. You can add your own repeats and endings by choosing this menu command to open the Edit Repeats and
Endings dialog.
Generate Chords for Intro will launch the Generate Intro dialog where you can specify the characteristics of the intro you
wish to generate. For more information on this feature please refer to the Automatic Intro section.
Reduce (durations of chords by 1/2) cuts chord durations by 50% (e.g., 4beats>>2beats; 2beats>>1beat).
Expand (durations of chords by 2) doubles the durations of chords (e.g., 1beat>>2beats; 2beats>>4beats).
Unfold (Convert to 1 Big Chorus): Choose this command to unfold a multi-chorus song into one BIG chorus. When selected,
Band-in-a-Box will display all choruses and verses of a song without loops or repeats. It is useful, for instance, when you have

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 a song with 3 choruses and want to convert it to a single large chorus, or to customize a song with the “Edit Settings for
Current Bar” feature to change meter, tempo, patches, styles, and/or harmonies and generate a MIDI file for export.
Fold (Convert 1 Chorus to Multiple) converts a song with a single big chorus to multiple smaller choruses based on the
information you enter in the Fold Song dialog (chorus begins, chorus ends, tag etc.). If you have imported a MIDI file, you
might have a file that is 96 bars long, but really consists of 3 choruses of 32 bars each. You can convert this to a 32-bar song
by using the Edit | Fold song option, including inserting tag endings, and 2-bar endings.
Transpose opens a submenu with both manual and automated options for transposing the complete song or selected parts of the
song.
Transpose From ... To ... launches the Transpose dialog for transposing a particular section of the song. The bar values can be
typed in manually or you can transpose a portion of a song by highlighting the region you wish to have transposed, selecting
this menu item, and typing in the new key you wish to transpose to.
Transpose 1 Semitone Down or Transpose 1 Semitone Up transposes the entire song. This can be done while the song is
playing. Band-in-a-Box will pause briefly, and then resume playing in the new key at the same place in the song.
Transpose Specific Number of Semitones opens a dialog where you can type in the number of semitones to transpose the
song.
Tempo opens a submenu with options for setting the song tempo.
- When a new song is started, the tempo is set based on Style. This is the tempo that is embedded in the style file. It can be
reset to any tempo.
- You can quickly enter a specific tempo for a song with the Set Tempo… command (hotkey is Ctrl+Alt+T), or by clicking on
the tempo. A dialog opens up where you can type in a tempo.
- You can quickly change to different speeds with the menu commands or hotkeys. For example, choosing Half Speed (or the
hotkeys Ctrl -) will change the playback speed to half, and Normal Speed (Ctrl =) will revert to normal speed.
- Load an audio file and use the tempo feature to play it at reduced speed without changing the pitch, a big help for analyzing
and transcribing songs.
- For practicing tunes, it can be useful to play them at slower or faster tempos. You can enter an amount to change tempos for
each song that is loaded.
Change Tempo of all loaded songs by…: For practicing tunes, it can be useful to play them at slower or faster tempos. You
can enter an amount to change tempos for each song that is loaded.
Set Audio Master (Base) Tempo is used to ensure that tempo stretches are based on correct master tempo. It uses a
sophisticated peak-limiting algorithm to ensure that increases in the volume do not result in clipping of the sound, which
would be heard as a loud distortion.
Lyrics opens a submenu with options for showing or editing lyrics.
Enter Note-Based Lyrics at Current Bar opens the Lyric entry box at the current location of the time line or highlight cell.
Big Lyrics Window opens the Big Lyrics window for viewing lyrics and, optionally, chord symbols.
Lyric Document Window displays a full screen of formatted lyrics. Easily copy and paste lyrics to and from your favorite
word processor. The lyrics will then display in the Big Lyrics window.
Copy Lyrics to Clipboard allows you to copy a song’s lyrics (and/or the chords) to the standard Windows® clipboard. By
pasting this data into a word processor, you can print out the lyrics in the font of your choice. The dialog has options to allow
copying of note-based and/or line-based lyrics. With either option you can choose to include the chord symbols, have double
or single line spacing, and make margin settings.
Copy Bar-Based Lyrics in 1st Chorus to Whole Song copies the note-based lyrics for the first chorus to the rest of the song.
Convert Note-Based Lyrics to Bar-Based Lyrics converts the note-based lyrics to bar-based lyrics.
Erase Bar-Based Lyrics erases bar-based lyrics.
Erase Note-Based Lyrics erases only the note-based lyrics.
Erase Note-Based Lyrics from Choruses: Select from a list box to kill lyrics in the selected chorus.
Move Bar-Based Lyrics Ahead of Timeline / Move Bar-Based Lyrics Back to Timeline: If you have a note-based lyric that
you want to time shift ahead or back, you can click on the time line at the destination that you want, and then choose this item.
You can also shift lyric times using the Lyric Event list.
Timeshift Bar-Based Lyrics (ticks) / Insert Beat(s) in Bar-Based Lyrics / Delete Beat(s) from Bar-Based Lyrics: These are
functions that apply to the entire lyric track. They are useful when you’re inserting bars or beats into the song and need to
move the lyrics around to keep them in sync.
Edit Bar-Based Lyrics as Event List opens the Edit Lyrics dialog with Edit, Insert, Append, and Delete functions.
Vocal Synth - Auto Mode (Generate Vocal Audio from Lyrics & Melody): Your Melody or Soloist track with lyrics can be
rendered to a vocal audio track by sending it to the third-party vocal synthesizer Sinsy. Choose the language, Japanese or
English, and one of the female or male vocalists. You can adjust the gender of the voice in a range from -0.8 to +0.8. Higher

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 values are more masculine. If your track does not include lyrics you can enter a syllable to use for notes with no lyrics. With
the “Auto” command your song will be sent automatically to the song server and returned as an audio file on the Audio track.
This may take a few minutes. When the vocal synth has been generated, the Import Audio File dialog opens. Press [OK] to
import it to the Audio track.
Vocal Synth - Manual Mode (Generate Vocal Audio from Lyrics & Melody): With this command, Band-in-a-Box will
generate a file named Sound.XML and save it in C:\bb\Data\SRequest. Use your browser to navigate to www.sinsy.jp and
upload the xml file. A file named sound.wav will be returned and loaded into the Audio track of your song.
Chords opens a submenu with options for editing chords.
Chord Substitution (Choose your own) allows you to see a list of possible chord substitutions for the current chord
progression. You can also access it from a right-click on the Chord Sheet, and by pressing the Chord Substitution button.
Chord Substitution (Auto-Generate) will automatically pick chord substitutions for all or part of the song.
Chord Reharmonization (Choose your own) shows you the current bar in the song with a list of suggested chord progressions
for the current melody, based on the melody and genre that you choose.
Chord Reharmonization (Auto-Generate) generates an entirely new chord progression for a complete song or a portion of a
song. Selecting this menu option opens the Reharmonist dialog.
’Jazz Up’ Chords: This menu command will “Jazz Up” the chords by changing chords like C and Cmaj to 7th and 6th chords.
Song embellishment will be turned on for the song. Select the type of 7ths from the list box, and then click on the [OK – Jazz
UP] button.
’Jazz Down’ Chords: This will “Jazz Down” the chords by changing chords with 7ths (e.g., C7) to triads (e.g., C) and 9ths and
13ths to 7th chords. Song embellishment is turned off. Press [OK – Jazz Down] to proceed.
Search and Replace Chords will search and replace chords, including support for asterisks (*) as wildcards.
Edit Chord Shortcuts file (shortcut.txt) / Refresh Chord Shortcuts:If you have found a chord that Band-in-a-Box doesn’t
recognize, you can add your own shortcuts in a text file that you make yourself called C:\bb\Data\shortcut.txt and Band-in-a-
Box will allow you to type in that chord in the future. Click on this menu command to open or create your own chord shortcuts
file. Make sure to save the file after editing. Changes won’t take effect until you choose Edit | Chords | Refresh Chord
Shortcuts…
The text file C:\bb\Data\shortcut.txt allows you to add new chord shortcuts. If you find a chord that Band-in-a-Box won’t
accept, like Csus2 when it expects C2 instead, you can enter this on a single line (without the quotes) “Csus2@C2.” Then Band-
in-a-Box will enter the chord C2 whenever you type in Csus 2. You can also use it for shortcuts. For example, if you entered
j@maj7 Band-in-a-Box would let you type Cj for CMaj7. See the file C:\bb\Data\pgshortc.txt for examples of shortcuts.
Note: The shortcut.txt file doesn’t ship with Band-in-a-Box or it would overwrite your file! The file C:\bb\Data\pgshortc.txt should be used only
by PG Music Inc. for shortcuts supplied with Band-in-a-Box.
Chord Builder allows you to build up chords using mouse clicks.
Play Current Chord plays the current chord on the Chord Sheet. It is most commonly accessed by pressing Shift+Enter on the
Chord Sheet.
Chord Settings launches the Chord Options dialog, where you can put in rests and pushes. You can launch the Preview, Chord
Builder, or Chord-Substitution Functions from this window.
MicroChord Settings (up to 4 chords per beat) opens the Set MicroChords dialog where you can enter up to 4 chords per beat,
select tracks to be excluded from playing MicroChords, select options, and set a specific rhythm.
Track Settings and Actions opens a convenient “one-stop-shopping” dialog where you can select RealTracks, Loops, MIDI
SuperTracks, etc., set volume/ reverb/panning/tone, mute, solo, freeze, and do many other things for all 24 tracks.
Slide Tracks allows you to move any of the Bass, Drums, Piano, Guitar, Strings or Melody track ahead or behind by a certain
amount. You could, for example, slide the Bass track so it plays a little ahead of the rest of the band. This has the effect of
making the bass player “drive the band,” and is useful in jazz styles to make the music sound more exciting.
Settings for Current Bar opens the Edit Settings for Current Bar dialog where you can change meter, tempo, volume, patches,
styles, RealDrums styles, and/or harmonies at the current bar. You can specify the changes to happen for every chorus and/or a
specific chorus.
Song Memo: A song memo of up to 2000 characters may be added.
Set Time Signature (range of bars) allows you to assign a specific time signature at any bar and apply it to a range of bars, as
often as you want. For example, to have one 5/4 bar, bar 13, select this menu item, and toggle the 5/4 button. Then, type in the
bar beginning (13) and number of bars (1) in the space provided.
Auto-Generate Song Title allows you to generate a title for a song. There is also a button on the main screen for this.

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Options Menu
MIDI/Audio Driver Setup: Select MIDI Input and MIDI Output drivers and choose a Synthesizer / Sound Card patch map.
Select the [Run Driver Wizard] button for help with your selection. Click on the [Audio Settings] button if you need to set up
audio drivers, such as ASIO drivers. This topic is discussed in detail in the MIDI and Audio Setup instructions.
Use/Set Alternate MIDI Output Driver for Session allows you to set a temporary MIDI driver for a session, useful when your
main MIDI Driver is “in-use” by another application.
Return to Factory Settings: Choosing this command will reset all settings to the default at the time of shipping. Return to
Factory Settings also offers to nuke the drum kit and MIDI Driver choice, making the return to factory settings complete.
If you choose MOST settings, the patch map and drum kit will be left
intact, and not reset.
If you choose ALL settings, all settings will be reset to factory.
If “Preserve location of RealTracks and RealDrums folders” is
checked, the folder locations will be remembered even after you reset
to factory settings or erase the intrface.bbw configuration file.

What add-ons do I have? will search your directory to tell you which add-ons you have and which you don’t.
Language Selection allows you to change language from English to another language for display. If there are other languages
supported by your version of Band-in-a-Box, then they will be displayed in this dialog. International language versions are
available for download from https://www.pgmusic.com/support.bbw.international.htm.
MIDI Patch Maps, etc.
Save Default Configuration (Mysetup.DK file) will rewrite the Band-in-a-Box configuration file (Mysetup.DK) with your
current settings. This file contains:
- MIDI Channels/Patches/Volumes/Reverb/Chorus/Bank
- Patch Map
- Favorite Patches, Favorite Combos settings
- Drum Kit
Save Alternate Drum/Patch File .DK and Load Alternate Drum/Patch File .DK allow you to save different custom drum kits
or load preset or custom kits.
Display General MIDI Patch Numbers opens the General MIDI Patch List for reference.
Send a SysEx File (*.SYX) is a command that sends SysEx information to your MIDI device.
Whether you want to load different patches (or ones you have “tweaked” with a patch editor/librarian such as the SC-Pro
Editor/Librarian) into your MIDI device or whether you have a synth that requires a SysEx to set it to a certain mode, you can
easily send SysEx files with a configurable delay (the default is 100 ms).
If you want to send a SysEx file to your MIDI device automatically at the start of each session, you need to make a file called
STARTUP.SYX, and put it in the C:\bb directory. Then, each time the program is started, it will send the appropriate SysEx
commands contained in this file to your MIDI device.
If you need to send a SysEx file at any time during a session, choose the Options | MIDI Patch Maps, etc. | Send a Sys-Ex File
(*.SYX) option. This launches a window from which you can choose a file to send. Since some MIDI devices require a delay
time between parts of a SysEx message, there is a default delay value of 100 ms between each part of the message.
If you need to change the default delay, go to the Options | MIDI Patch Maps, etc. | Make an Advanced Patch map menu item
and enter the Sys-Ex Delay to a value in milliseconds (ms). If it is set to 0 ms, the program will revert to the default of 100ms.
The smallest delay setting is 1(ms).
Technical Notes:
SysEx files are files that can be made with programs such as PG Music’s PowerTracks Pro Audio or SC-Pro Editor/Librarian. They begin with
a F0(hex) byte and end with a F7 byte.
Examples where you might want to use a SysEx file with Band-in-a-Box are:
- Employing a custom setting or patch you have made with the SC-Pro Editor /Librarian.
- Sending a General MIDI mode ON message automatically when Band-in-a-Box boots up.
Choose Patch from General MIDI Patches allows you to select a patch for the currently selected instrument from an
organized list of GM patches.
Choose Patch from Higher Bank allows you to select a patch using the advanced search and higher bank/patch support
capabilities.
Make a Patch Map (Advanced Settings): Patch maps contain information for mapping the patches and drum notes to your
synthesizer as well as Velocity offset, Octave offset, bank Controller 0 setting, bank Controller 32 setting, etc. There are also
advanced options like sending a SysEx file by loading the .DK file.
Edit these settings in the Options | MIDI Patch Maps, etc. submenu by choosing Make an Advanced Patch map.

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 These options are useful either if you have a newer synthesizer that supports bank changes and has nice patches in higher
banks or if you have an older synth that requires custom mapping of sounds. To access these features, enable the “Enable
Advanced Settings” option. Then, type in the values you want to change. Say, for example, you have some great string sounds
on your synth on Bank 4, Controller 32. With this feature you can save them as part of your Band-in-a-Box setup by clicking
the [Save] button. This will append your MYSETUP.DK file to include all of the patches you like to use, regardless of where
they are on your synth.
Some basic sound cards don’t have volume responsive drums. The result of this limitation can be rather unpleasant, since the
drums might be too loud and there is no way of lowering the volume. Band-in-a-Box overcomes this so that you can boost or
reduce the velocity of the drums on virtually any sound source.
To adjust the drum velocity, access Options | MIDI Patch Maps, etc. | Make an Advanced Patch map and tick the option to
“Enable Advanced Settings.” Then, enter a Number from -127 (quietest) to +127 (loudest) in the “Drum Velocity Boost” box.
Whether you want to load different patches (or ones you have “tweaked” with a patch editor/librarian such as the SC-Pro
Editor/Librarian) into your MIDI device or whether you have a synth that requires a SysEx to set it to a certain mode, you can
easily send SysEx files with a configurable delay (the default is 100 ms).
If you want to send a SysEx file to your MIDI device automatically at the start of each session, you need to make a file called
STARTUP.SYX, and put it in the C:\bb directory. Then, each time the program is started, it will send the appropriate SysEx
commands contained in this file to your MIDI device.
If you need to send a SysEx file at any time during a session, choose the Options | MIDI Patch Maps, etc. | Send a Sys-Ex File
(*.SYX) option. This launches a window from which you can choose a file to send. Since some MIDI devices require a delay
time between parts of a SysEx message, there is a default delay value of 100 ms between each part of the message.
If you need to change the default delay, go to the Options | MIDI Patch Maps, etc. | Make an Advanced Patch map menu item
and enter the Sys-Ex Delay to a value in milliseconds (ms). If it is set to 0 ms, the program will revert to the default of 100ms.
The smallest delay setting is 1(ms).
GM Settings, etc.
Roland GS has settings for Roland GS keyboards and sound modules.
Reset Roland GS (Quick) and Reset GS (all ID’s) reset the module to factory settings.
Set Reverb Type or Set Chorus Type (GS Module): Roland GS instruments allow different type of reverb and chorus
settings. These settings boxes allow you to select them.
Assign Part/Channel etc. for GS Module: The GS Part settings are for GS compatible synthesizers only. These synthesizers
have 16 parts. The default is for part 1 to be channel 1, part 2 channel 2 etc., but you can change a part to another channel.
This allows you to use the same channel for 2 parts, so that you hear a layer of 2 instruments playing the same part.
Send MIDI Message
The GM functions work on MIDI sound devices that support the GM (General MIDI) standard, which includes most newer
MIDI Keyboards and sound cards.
The GS functions work on instruments that support the Roland GS specification. This includes the Roland Sound Canvas,
SCC1, and JV-30.
The XG functions work on instruments that support the Yamaha XG specification.
Send General MIDI Mode ON, & BB Patches sends a General MIDI mode ON message to the external MIDI device and the
sends the startup Band-in-a-Box patch changes.

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 Send General MIDI Mode ON (no patches) sets the external module to General MIDI mode. This command will ensure that
the module is ready to accept GM-specific MIDI data such as Bank, Controller, and Patch information.
Send GS Mode On Message (Roland) / Send XG Mode On Message (Yamaha): Since the inception of the GM (General
MIDI) standard, there have been two major subsets/extensions of this standard; GS (Roland) and XG (Yamaha). Therefore, in
addition to the GM Mode-on menu item feature there are additional commands to send a GS mode ON or a XG mode ON
message at any time by accessing the GM menu.
Auto-Send GM Mode On at Startup sends a “General MIDI mode on” message when the program boots up.
Auto-Send GS Mode On at Startup sends a Roland GS system on message when the Band-in-a-Box program boots up.
Auto-Send XG Mode On at Startup sends a Yamaha XG system on message when the Band-in-a-Box program boots up.
Turn Local OFF / ON (External MIDI Keyboard): “Local” refers to music playing on an external MIDI keyboard. If set to
“Off,” Band-in-a-Box will play the keyboard via the THRU part. If set to “On,” both Band-in-a-Box and the keyboard might
be playing the same Thru part.
When program quits, turn Local ON automatically turns the external MIDI keyboard back on at the end of the Band-in-a-
Box session.
Master Tuning allows you to master tune your sound card or sound module. This is useful if you’re playing along with an
instrument or recording that can’t easily be re-tuned like an acoustic piano. A setting of 0 is the default A = 440.
Note: Not all sound cards/ modules support Master Tuning. To see if your sound card supports Master Tuning, press the [Test..] button.
Master (Combo) Volume Adjust
Master Volume uses MIDI messages instead of GS/GM SysEx should be set by all users except if you have a Roland GS
synth, Roland Sound Canvas, or Roland VSC. If set, the Combo settings will allow Master Volume and other MIDI settings
to work. This submenu allows you to set whether to use Roland - GS or General MIDI for Master Volume messages. Unless
you have a Roland, you should select General MIDI.
If you want to “turn it all up or down,” this can be done quickly with menu commands or hotkeys to set the Master Volume.
There are also hotkeys that control the overall volume by reducing (or increasing) volumes on all parts by 5 to simulate a
Master Volume effect (especially useful for sound cards that don’t support Master Volume changes). These items also have
hotkeys as listed on the menu (Ctrl+Alt+Shift Q, W, and E). Commands and hotkeys are also provided to change the volume
of the current part only.
Set Panning to Mono sets the panning of your Band-in-a-Box parts (Bass, Drums, Piano, etc.) to mono.
Set Panning to Stereo sets the panning of your Band-in-a-Box parts (Bass, Drums, Piano, etc.) to a typical stereo setup, which
is saved with the preferences.
Run Other Programs
Sound card Volume / Playback VU Meter launches the Windows® Mixer to adjust volumes on your sound card with the
Playback panel.
Sound card Recording / Recording VU Meter launches the Windows® Mixer to adjust volumes on your sound card with the
Recording panel.
Note: This uses the C:\windows\sndvol32.exe Mixer program. You may need to have the Windows® 98 version of this program for the
Recording Panel to open properly. If you don’t, you’d see the “Volume Control” panel and will have to manually set it to the Recording
Panel (by choosing Options | Properties | Recording).
Run Windows Control Panel runs the Windows® Control Panel, which lets you examine MIDI and Audio settings in the
Multimedia, Add New Hardware, and System panels.
Run Other Application and Choose ‘Other Application’ allows you to specify and run any other application (mixer
application, PowerTracks etc.).
Run DLL or &EXE plugin and Choose DLL or EXE Plugin allows you to run a plug-in that has been made specifically for
a PG Music product.
Convert Patch list from PowerTracks or Cakewalk will let you convert a PowerTracks Pro Audio .INI file or a Cakewalk
.INS file to a Band-in-a-Box .PAT file.
Open Preferences / Save Preferences as: You can save and load custom preferences files with your current settings saved and
restored. For example, you can have a preference that remembers a certain group of songs, notation transpositions, etc. The
Options | Return to Factory Settings menu command saves preferences to disk, so that the settings can be restored at any time.
Preferences
The Preferences dialog allows you to set various settings that are saved in the Band-in-a-Box for Windows® configuration file
called intrface.bbw.

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Most program settings and options can be accessed from the rows of buttons at the top of the dialog.
Save/Load reverb, volume, etc. with songs: Select this checkbox if you wish to embed reverb, volume, pan, chorus, and bank
information with songs for later recall, or if you wish to enable any such embedded information with songs that are loaded. The
last settings that are in effect on the main screen instrument panel when you save the song will be recorded. Individual settings
can be enabled/disabled in the File | Save Special | Save Song w/Patches and Harmony menu item.
Prompt to reduce/expand song: If a style is changed with a different feel (16th notes instead of 8th notes), Band-in-a-Box will
automatically offer to expand or reduce the duration of the chords and change the tempo to accommodate the new style.
StylePicker defaults to current style: Since the StylePicker can now default to the current style, this option is available. If you
want the StylePicker to stay at the style that you left it, de-select this item.
“Beep” with messages: Now that people have their sound cards hooked up to big speaker systems, a simple “beep” issued by
Windows® when an incorrect key is pressed can seem loud enough to “wake your neighbors.” Setting the “silent beep” option
allows Band-in-a-Box to visually flash the window title bar to get your attention, instead of generating an audible “beep.”
Always save songs with “U” extension: Older Band-in-a-Box songs had additional extensions for last letter (1-9, A-O) to
indicate style type. Setting this will resave those old songs with a “U” extension, MGU or SGU (if no melody is present).
At program bootup…: When the new session starts, Band-in-a-Box can automatically open the song or style that was used in
the last session.
Bootup in directory of the last session: On program boot up, the current directory will get set to the last directory used in the
previous session.
Show custom track labels and descriptions: If this option is enabled, the Track buttons at the top of the main screen and the
track labels on the Mixer will display custom track labels and descriptions that you have customized.
Auto-generate track labels: If this option is enabled, the Track buttons at the top of the main screen and the track labels on the
Mixer will display auto-generated labels. For example, if the track contains Banjo, then the label will show “Banjo” instead of
the default track labels (Bass, Piano, Drums, Guitar, Strings, Melody, and Soloist). Also, the track buttons in various windows
(Notation, Lead Sheet, Guitar, Piano, etc.) will display initials of auto-generated labels. For example, [H] will show for a track
that plays Harmonica.
When opening BB song, open MP3/WMA file same name: If MySong.MGU is loaded, and a same named audio file
(MySong.WMA, MySong.MP3, MySong.WAV, etc.) is present, Band-in-a-Box will open the audio file to the audio track. This
allows third parties to make audio files with chords in them, by making a MySong.MGU and MySong.MP3 pair of files, which
will load into Band-in-a-Box yet will have the audio compressed to take up little disk space.
Number of levels of undo for the Edit | Undo command can be as high as 999. The default is 99.
Automatically check for updates every __ days: If this is enabled, the program will automatically check for new updates. This
will occur as often as you choose. A setting of 0 days will check every time you run the program.
Allow multiple instances of Band-in-a-Box to be running allows you to have more than one copy of Band-in-a-Box open at a
time.
Allow fast bootups: Normally, this option should be enabled. This should only be disabled if you are having some problem with
bootup.

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Write a detailed log of bootup times (used for troubleshooting): This will be used as a diagnostic tool only. When this option
is enabled, you will get a message on bootup, which displays a detailed description of times for bootup.
Enter key advances highlight bar: The Enter key advances the highlight bar on the Chord Sheet. This speeds up the entry of
songs for people who prefer to use the Enter key. When you enter a chord on the chord worksheet, press the Enter key to place
your chord in the highlighted cell. The highlighted region will then move automatically to the next cell. The right arrow key can
also be used to move the highlight cell.
SPACEBAR Key: There are three options for spacebar operation.
- Enters no chord (deletes current chord)
- Plays from current position (Ctrl + Space from start)
- Plays from start (Ctrl + Space from current pos.)
The default setting is to play from current position and stop the song.
Simulate NUMPAD keys (for notebook users): Notebook users often don’t have a number pad so they can’t use the Band-in-
a-Box looping features (Ctrl+NUMPAD 1-6 keys). With this option the regular numbers can be used to trigger the looping
feature. For example, pressing Ctrl+2 will start playback of looped choruses.
Pause play until MIDI or key received: This allows playback to be started by a MIDI note received at the MIDI In port, or by
pressing a key on the computer keyboard. Band-in-a-Box generates its arrangement, and then “stands by” for your start
command.
Move current cell when playback stops: If this is enabled, the current cell will move to the last played bar when playback
stops.
Text Hints: Choose to enable or disable the fly-by text hints, the comprehensive program hints, and/or the dialog box hints. Set
the time delay in ms before the hint pops up, and the length of time it will display.
MIDI Options
The [MIDI Options] button in the Preferences dialog opens the MIDI Options dialog.
Send GM Mode On at startup / Send XG Mode On at
startup: You can elect to have Band-in-a-Box
automatically send a GM or XG Mode On command every
time the program is started. Toggle this option ON if you
have a GM or XG unit to ensure that it is always set to the
appropriate mode.
Local ON (Ext. Keyboard): If you are hearing the
information played on your keyboard played twice (an echo
effect) then set Local ON to “No.” If you can’t hear what
you are playing at all, set Local ON to “Yes.”
Turn External Keyboard’s Local On at end of session: If
you have set the Keyboard Local to Off (usually to
eliminate MIDI echo) this setting turns it back on at the end
of your Band-in-a-Box session.
Zero the ModWheel Controller when stop pressed: If you use Garritan synths, don’t enable this option, because Garritan uses
Modulation Wheel for Volume. If you have a MIDI keyboard, and use Modulation Wheel, you might set this.
MIDI Thru: Set to “No” if you don’t want the information played on your MIDI keyboard to be sent through Band-in-a-Box to
the output driver.
Controllers Thru: Guitar synthesizers and wind controllers contain large amounts of additional MIDI data which may not be
required for Band-in-a-Box and may only serve to hinder the system performance of your computer. To prevent this information
from being sent Thru, set this option to “No.”
Use Thru Channel: Band-in-a-Box uses the Thru channel as a part, just like the Bass/Drums/Piano, etc. The Thru Channel is
re-channeled to the Thru channel as assigned in the MIDI settings dialog. If you would prefer to set the Thru channel yourself
from your MIDI controller, set this to “No.”
Boost THRU Velocity by: When playing along on a keyboard to the Band-in-a-Box “band,” if the sound of your keyboard is
too quiet and increasing the THRU Volume doesn’t help enough, use this option to boost the THRU velocity and make your
THRU playing louder.
Output Sync/Start info: Syncs Band-in-a-Box with an external sequencer.
Send Extra Note Offs: Leave this option to “No” unless you are having trouble with “Stuck Notes” when you press [Stop]. If
you set this option to “Yes” the program will send a “global sweep” of all notes off in addition to the selected notes off that are
playing when you press the [Stop] button.
Allow Any Patch Changes: Set to “No” to disable All Patch changes.

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Song Patch Changes: Songs can be saved with patch changes. If you want to prevent specific instruments loading for a given
song, set this option to “No.”
Style Patch Changes: Styles contain patch change information for the instruments that were used when the Style was created.
To use your own instrument selection, not the original instruments, change this setting to “No.”
Drum Patch Changes: To disable patch changes in Drums, set to NO.
Drum Bank Changes: This should usually be left unchecked since most synths don’t use bank changes on drums. But, if you
require drum bank changes then select this option.
Allow Volume Changes: To prevent any volume changes set to “No.”
Style Volume Changes: To stop embedded style volume changes set to “No.”
Style Panning, Reverb, Tone Changes: If set, styles are allowed to set panning, reverb, and tone if they are set that way in the
style.
MIDI Settings
The [Channels] button in the Preferences dialog opens the MIDI Settings dialog.
MIDI Channels: Range 0 to 16. If set to 0 the part will be
Off/Disabled, which is not the same as muted.
Octave: Adjusts the octave of the part. Range (-2 to +2). Usually
set to 0. (Bass is usually set to -1 for most General MIDI (GM)
instruments.)
Patch: Range 0 to 128. These are General MIDI patch numbers.
Volume: Range 0 to 127. Average volume setting is = 90. This
can also be set from the main screen.
Note: Only General MIDI, XG, and GS instruments respond to Reverb,
Chorus, and Bank changes.
Reverb: Range 0 to 127. Default setting = 40.
Chorus: Range of 0 to 127. Default setting = 0.
Panning: Panning refers to the stereo placement (i.e., Left to
Right) of a given part’s sound. The range of this parameter is -63
to +63. A setting of 0 is centered in the middle of the stereo field.
Bank0 and LSB(32): Many General MIDI instruments have extra instruments available on higher banks. Usually set to 0. Other
settings are multiples of 8 (0, 8, 16 etc.).
These can use either Controller 0 (Bank 0), which is also known as MSB for Most Significant Byte, or Controller 32, also called
LSB for Least Significant Byte, or combinations of the two controllers.
Harmony Channels and Settings
The [Harmony] button in the Preferences dialog opens the Harmony Channels and Settings dialog where settings for the
harmonies are made.
OK to Load Harmonies with Songs: If set to YES, the harmony settings for each song
will be loaded and saved with each song. If set to NO, the harmony setting won’t be
saved or leaded with the songs. If you are using a certain harmony, you should set this
setting to NO, otherwise you have to keep re-selecting the harmony when you load in
new songs.
Change Harmony with New Chords: Example: If a harmony is played on bar 1 on a C
chord, and then the note is held as the chord changes to a Fm7 chord, (if this setting is set
to YES) the harmony notes will change so that they will be still be playing chord tones. If
they don’t the harmony sounds dissonant. Leave this setting to YES, unless you have a
specific reason to disable it. The harmony is changed by moving the voices to the nearest
chord tone.
Overall Harmony Volume Adjust: Sets a level for the overall harmony in a range of -
128 to 128, with 0 leaving the settings as programmed in the Harmony file.
Harmony Channels: Band-in-a-Box already uses 7 channels (Bass, Drums, Piano, Guitar, Strings, Melody and Thru channels).
Adding these 4 harmony channels produces potentially 11 channels of information.
General MIDI Patch Edit
The [Patch Map] button in the Preferences dialog opens the General MIDI Patch Edit dialog, where you can make a
customized General MIDI patch map.

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 Type in the patch number that your synth uses for each
instrument listed. For example, if your sound source
has its Acoustic Piano at patch location 41select the
box to the left of Acoustic Piano and type 41. Do the
same for all instruments in the General MIDI patch
list. If your synth doesn’t have an exact match, use a
close sounding patch that it does have. Once you have
made a patch map in this way, whenever Band-in-a-
Box encounters Acoustic Piano (which is General
MIDI instrument #1), it will look up this Patch Map
Location and then send out Patch 41 to your
synth/sound module.

Drum Kit Definition

The [Drum Kit] button in the Preferences dialog opens the Drum Kit Definition dialog. If you have been unable to find a
preset drum map that matches your synth’s drum notes, then you may need to type in the drum notes that your sound source
uses. To do this, you need to hook your MIDI controller up to play the drum sounds from the keyboard. Play up and down the
keyboard to hear all the drum sounds.
Type the MIDI note numbers for the various instruments as
you find them on your drum machine or keyboard. Press the
[Save] button to save the kit as MYSETUP.DK. If you are
making a kit to save under a different name then save the kit
under Options | MIDI Patch Maps, etc. | Save Alternate
Patch/Drum Kit.

Customize the Relative Volumes of the Drum Kit Instruments.

Perhaps when you listen to Band-in-a-Box, you feel that the crash cymbal is too loud or the kick drum is too quiet.
The [Set Drum Volumes] button allows you to make the crash cymbal 10% quieter, boost the kick-drum by 15%, and turn off
the “tambourine” entirely. Changes apply to any song when this feature is enabled, and playback and written MIDI files will
reflect the changes.
The default settings are to change the volumes by 0 %, which
would leave them as they are. If there were a drum note with
a velocity of 50, it would be affected as follows:
+40% would change it from 50 to 50+(40%x50)=70
-40% would change it from 50 to 50-(40%x50)=30
The current settings for your drum velocities are saved in the
intrface.bbw configuration file.

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Favorite Instruments
The [Favorite Patch] button in the Preferences dialog opens the Favorite Instruments dialog.

For each of the Band-in-a-Box parts you can assign up to 10 “favorite” General MIDI instruments.
Note: If you use a custom patch map it will convert your synth’s non-GM patch numbers, always enter GM patch numbers for the favorite
instruments.
The [Patch List] button displays the General MIDI Patch List of instrument names and patch numbers.
The [Combos] button opens the Favorite Combos dialog.

This dialog allows you to save up to 10 of your favorite instrument combos. For example, you could set up Combo #1 to be an
Acoustic Jazz combo which would send out patches like Acoustic Bass, Acoustic Piano, Acoustic Guitar, Flute, etc. After you
finish typing in the instrument patch numbers select the [Save] button.

Play Menu
Note: Most commands in the Play menu are performed by onscreen buttons or by the keystrokes listed to the right of the menu command.
Play: This plays the current arrangement from the start without regenerating the parts, unless they have not yet been generated. Edits to
accompaniment parts are kept.
Play Special opens a submenu with more options for playing the song.
Play (with Generation): This generates a new arrangement and plays the song.
Play (with no Generation): This plays the song without generating a new arrangement.
Generate (even if tracks are frozen): When you do this, the song will regenerate, the tracks will get rewritten, and the song
will stay frozen. So, if you’re freezing songs to get the instant playback with RealTracks but get tired of the “same-old” frozen
arrangement, just press Shift+Play, generate a new arrangement, and press Save. Then the new “fresh-frozen” arrangement will
play instantly, even with many RealTracks.
Tip: Obviously, you wouldn’t use this feature to force regeneration of a frozen song if you have made custom edits to the song that you don’t
want to lose, unless you’ve saved the song and have a backup copy.
Play from Bar …: Choose a chorus and bar to play from with the current arrangement. Tracks won’t be regenerated. Use this
command during playback to jump to any bar in the song.
Play from Current Position: When the song is stopped this command starts playback again at the bar with the highlight cell.
Go (Open and Play): This launches an Open File dialog for selection of any song in any directory. The selected song loads and
plays automatically in Band-in-a-Box.
Stop: This stops playback or recording. To resume playback from the current bar, use the Play From Current Position command
or the [Play from Bar…] toolbar button. To play from the start of the song, press the [Play] toolbar button.

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Pause: This pauses the song. Repeating this command resumes play from the exact location where the song was paused.
Play & Loop Highlighted Section: Drag the mouse cursor to select a region of bars in the Chord Sheet and then use this
command to play the selected region as a loop.
Looping
- You can loop any section of the song. The program will then start playback at the first loop point and play the looped section
until stop is pressed or looping is turned off.
- Looping of a section of the song is enabled with the Loop Section Enabled command in the [Loop] toolbar button, the Loop
Section Enabled command, or the keystroke NUMPAD 1.
- Open the Loop Section Settings dialog with the menu command, by clicking the [Loop] button in the toolbar, or pressing
NUMPAD 2.
The remaining commands in this submenu are also found in the Loop Section Settings dialog.
Force loaded songs to # choruses will set every song that you load to the same number of choruses.
Jukebox Play: This opens the Options for Juke Box dialog to select and play a jukebox list.
Previous Jukebox Song / Next Jukebox Song: These allow you to navigate back and forth in a juke box set list.
Wizard Playalong feature: The Wizard is a play along feature that allows you to use the QWERTY keyboard or your connected
MIDI keyboard to play along with Band-in-a-Box. The Wizard is only active during playback.
Wizard uses “Smart” notes: Toggle this on so the Wizard will only play notes based on the chord/key of the song. Toggle
“Smart” notes OFF (unchecked) to have the Wizard provide you access to the chromatic scale.
Panic!: Select this if your MIDI notes are stuck ON and it’s driving you crazy!
Panic should also Reset DXi/VSTi synth: When selected, hung DXi/VSTi notes are also cleared by the Panic feature.
Freeze All Tracks: This freezes all tracks – MIDI, RealTracks, and RealDrums – for fast replay without regenerating tracks.
Un-freeze All Tracks: This unfreezes tracks to allow normal regeneration.
Freeze track: This allows the selection of a single track to freeze.
Step Advance: When a song is paused these commands can be used to navigate step-by-step through the currently selected track.
For example, if the current track is set to the Melody track using the row of buttons on the Notation window, Lead Sheet
window, or Guitar window; pressing the advance buttons will display the next note or chord of the melody on the piano display,
guitar display, lead sheet, and notation. This is a great way to study the notes being played, and to navigate around the track.

Melody Menu
Track Type: Normally, you’d leave the track type set to Single. But you can set it to:
- Multi (16) -Channel – All channels get preserved, and outputted on the channels, this would be useful for importing an entire
MIDI file and playing it from the Melody channel (using a silent style).
- Guitar – Channels 11 to 16 will display on the guitar as strings 11 to 16, TAB will show, the notation will be up an octave,
and the MIDI file will contain the channels preserved.
- Piano – In this mode, channels 8 and 9 are treated as the left and right hand of a piano part.
- Selecting any one of Bass, Ukulele, Mandolin, Banjo (5-string), or Violin will display the correct tablature in the Notation
window and the correct fretboard in the Guitar window.
- Set the track to match any of the 11 alternate guitar tunings, such as DADGAD, Open G, or Double Drop D, supported by
Band-in-a-Box. Then you will see the correct notes on the guitar fretboard, in the notation and tablature.
- If the track has drums that use GM Drum notes, you can select Drums to see drum notation.
Melodist – Generate Melody and Chords launches the Melodist feature.
Melodist Maker submenu items allow you to edit Melodist files using the Melody Maker.
Sequencer Window for Multi-Channel Melody: There are 2 tracks in Band-in-a-Box to add your own recordings. These are the
Melody and Soloist tracks. Normally, you would want a single part on each of them, but since MIDI information can have
separate channels, it is possible to store 16 separate parts on each of the Melody and Soloist tracks. When the Melody or Soloist
track has been set to “Multi (16)-Channel” we refer to this as “Sequencer Mode.” Selecting this command will then launch the
Sequencer Window. Then you can customize which channels will play and display.
Edit Melody Track is a submenu of editing options.
Import Melody from MIDI File allows you to import MIDI data from a file (*.MID) into the Melody track.
Import Melody from Clipboard allows you to import MIDI data that has been pasted into the clipboard (e.g., from a sequencer
such as PowerTracks).
Record Melody launches the Record Melody dialog to record a MIDI melody.
Record Melody from Bar starts recording at the current location of the highlight cell after playing a two-bar lead-in.
Step Edit Melody allows you to enter/edit a melody in step time from the Notation window. This uses an event list.

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 Quantize, Time Adjust
Quantize Melody opens the Quantize Track dialog. The Humanize Melody… feature is an advanced version of this function.
Humanize with Straight Feel / Humanize with Swing Feel: Band-in-a-Box uses intelligent humanization routines, which
can humanize a melody from one feel to another, from one tempo to another, and vary the amount of swing in 8th notes (but
not randomly). The results are very musical with natural sounding MIDI melodies.
Humanize Melody opens the Humanize Track (Quantize to New Tempo or Feel) dialog. The humanize effect is broken down
into 5 main categories: Tempo, Lateness, 8th Note Spacing, Legato, and Feel.
Loosen up Start Times is a dedicated function to vary the start times of notes on the Melody or Soloist tracks, with options
for what notes to affect (harmony, chords) and amount of variance.
Eliminate Note Overlap - Preserve Double Stops / Eliminate Note Overlap – Remove Double Stops open a Choose Range
dialog to select the range of bars where note overlap will be eliminated while double stops are either preserved or eliminated.
There is an option to treat channels as a separate track.
Timeshift Melody (ticks) allows you to move the Melody forwards or backwards in small increments relative to the rest of
the song tracks. (Measured in ticks or parts per quarter, PPQ.)
Insert Beat(s) in Melody allows you to insert a blank beat or beats into the song relative to the current time signature.
Delete Beat(s) from Melody allows you to delete a beat or beats from the song relative to the current time signature.
Transpose shows a submenu with functions for transposing the Melody track.
Transpose Melody allows you to transpose the Melody track without affecting the other tracks in the song.
Transpose One Octave Down/ Transpose One Octave Up transposes the Melody track one octave in either direction. This is
often useful if the Melody instrument has been changed. Transposing can be done while the song plays.
Form
Copy First Chorus to Whole Song stretches the Melody track out over the entire song (i.e., first, last, and middle choruses).
Erase from All Choruses erases the Melody track and any data that was contained therein.
Erase from First Chorus / Erase from Middle Choruses / Erase from Last Chorus: These menu commands allow you to
eliminate the Melody from any chorus.
Transform Waltz Melody & Soloist to 4/4: If you have a song with a 3/4 time signature, you can instantly hear it as a 4/4
feel. Simply load the Waltz song and then change the style to a 4/4 style. Band-in-a-Box uses intelligent algorithms to
transform the melody to the new time signature.
Transform 4/4 Melody & Soloist to Waltz: You can automatically transform any 4/4 song/melody to a Waltz 3/4 feel. Simply
load in any 4/4 song and change the style to a Waltz style. The program will offer to transform the melody so that it works as
a Waltz. It’s fun and educational to hear and play familiar songs in a Waltz feel.
Adjust Level of Melody allows you to increase or decrease the volume (velocity) of the Melody track without affecting the
other tracks.
Copy to Soloist Track copies the entire contents of the Melody track to the Soloist track. This is useful as a temporary holding
area for your Melody or bouncing tracks.
Move to Soloist Track copies the entire contents of the Melody track to the Soloist track and erases the original data from the
Melody track, preparing it for a new track or data.
Swap Melody and Soloist Track performs a “double copy/move” so that the data that was in the Melody track gets transferred
to the Soloist track and vice versa. This is also known as track bouncing.
Convert Harmony to Melody Track converts a single line Melody track to include the current harmony selection.
Remove Harmony (or guitar solo) from Melody Track removes a harmony from a track, providing that the harmony was put
there by Band-in-a-Box in the first place using the Convert Harmony to Melody Track command.
Generate Guitar Chord Solo opens the Guitar feature dialog for generating a guitar chord solo.
Auto-Rechannel to Guitar Display converts channels on a track to channels 11 to 16. Channels 11 to 16 are used by Band-in-
a-Box to indicate strings 1 to 6 of a guitar. It uses the current position marker on the guitar for this command. A popup
question will ask if you want to include events that are already on the guitar channels.
Rechannel to Specific Guitar Fret Position over Range changes the fret position over the selected range.
Map Melody Track to C7 Chord is a useful tool when making styles.
Change Pitch Bend Range lets you set the range in semitones.
Insert Guitar Bend events when pitch bend found will insert controllers so the guitar will display bends.
Piano Hand-Split manually splits a piano part on a Melody or Soloist track using the intelligent hand-splitting routines. The
left/right hands display in red/blue on the big piano, and on bass/treble clefs on the notation. Import a piano MIDI file to the
Melody track to get a split-hands display and printout.

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 Adjust Legato/Staccato by… allows you to increase legato of the Melody track by N ticks, avoiding the next note by M ticks,
or reduce the length of notes by N ticks, preserving a minimum of M ticks duration of notes. To increase legato of the notes,
enter a positive number in the first dialog. The duration of notes in the track will be increased by this number of ticks. Then, in
the next dialog, specify the number of ticks to avoid next note. To reduce the length of notes, enter a negative number in the
first dialog. The duration of notes in the track will be decreased by this number of ticks. Then, in the next dialog, specify the
minimum duration of notes.
Adjust Channels by will adjust all MIDI channels by the number value entered.
Remove extra Sustain Pedals (MIDI Controller 64) will remove extra Sustain Pedals from the track.
Embellish Melody shows a submenu with options for enabling and customizing the Melody embellishment feature.
Embellish Melody during playback launches the Embellisher dialog. This optionally embellishes the Melody during playback.
Embellish Melody Dialog allows you to customize the settings of the Embellisher, choose an embellisher type from presets,
and make a particular Embellishment permanent.
Mute Melody during Middle Choruses to allow for soloing.
Generate Soundtrack launches the SoundTrack feature, which allows you to generate music in the style you choose for any
length of time you specify. As the “producer,” you select the genre, length of time, instruments, and fade-in/fade-out options.
The SoundTrack adjusts the tempo and duration to match the settings, and then allows you to save the file as a WAV, WMA
(Windows® Media Audio), or MP3 file.

Soloist Menu
Track Type: Normally, you’d leave the track type set to Single. But you can set it to:
- Multi (16) -Channel – All channels get preserved, and outputted on the channels, this would be useful for importing an entire
MIDI file, and playing it from the Melody channel (using a silent style).
- Guitar – Channels 11 to 16 will display on the guitar as strings 11 to 16, TAB will show, the notation will be up an octave, and
the MIDI file will contain the channels preserved.
- Piano – In this mode, channels 8 and 9 are treated as the left and right hand of a piano part.
- Selecting any one of Bass, Ukulele, Mandolin, Banjo, or Violin will display the correct tablature in the Notation window and
the correct fretboard in the Guitar window.
- Set the track to match any of the 11 alternate guitar tunings, such as DADGAD, Open G, or Double Drop D that are supported
by Band-in-a-Box. Then you will see the correct notes on the guitar fretboard, in the notation and tablature.
- If the track has drums that use GM Drum notes, you can select Drums to see drum notation.
Generate and Play a Solo opens the Select Soloist dialog where a preset Soloist style can be selected or your own Soloist can be
defined.
Soloist Maker is a submenu of editing Soloists files.
Start a Soloists File allows you to make and edit Soloist styles saved under the filename of your choice. See Soloist Edit
dialog for additional details on importing/exporting/saving Soloists.
Edit a Soloists File opens an Open File dialog where you can select any Soloist file (*.SOL) to edit. To edit the Soloist you are
using, use the Edit Current Soloist File command.
If you want to make your own Soloists or modify an existing Soloist, use the Soloist Maker (edit) module. The Soloist Maker
allows you to define the parameters essential to a Soloist’s playing, such as instrument range (i.e., tenor saxophone), extra
legato playing, playing more on top of the beat, playing straighter 8th notes than usual swing 8th notes. In addition, you can set
phrasing options, such as how long the phrase should be, and how much “space” to leave between phrases. You can also set
how “outside” the playing should be.
Edit Current Soloists File opens the Select Soloist dialog with the currently installed Soloists file.
Refresh Soloist allows the Soloist full access to all solo ideas contained in its database. Use to refresh after several Soloists
have been made.
OK to Load Soloists with Songs: Enable this option if you want Soloists to be automatically loaded with a song that was saved
with Soloist information.
Allow Soloist Harmony (on THRU Harmony): Enable this option to permit the Soloist to utilize the Harmony features. This
will allow the Soloist to make a harmonized solo with the harmony of your choice. See the Select Soloist dialog for additional
details.
Sequencer Window for Multi-Channel Soloist: There are two tracks in Band-in-a-Box to add your own recordings. These are
the Melody and Soloist tracks. Normally you would want a single part on each of them. But, since MIDI information can have
separate channels, it is possible to store 16 separate parts on each of the Melody and Soloist tracks. When the Melody or Soloist
track has been set to “Multi (16)-Channel” we refer to this as “Sequencer Mode.” Selecting this command will then launch the
Sequencer Window. Then you can customize which channels will play and display.
Edit Soloist Track is a submenu of editing options.

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 Import to Soloist Track from MIDI File allows you to import MIDI data from a file (*.MID) into the Soloist track.
Import to Soloist Track from Clipboard allows you to import MIDI data that has been pasted into the clipboard (e.g., from a
sequencer such as PowerTracks).
Record to Soloist Track allows you to record MIDI to the Soloist track.
Record to Soloist Track from Bar… starts recording at the current location of the highlight cell after playing a 2-bar lead-in.
Step Edit Soloist Track allows you to enter/edit a Soloist in step time from the Notation window. This uses an event list.
Quantize, Time Adjust
Quantize Soloist opens the Quantize Track dialog. The Humanize Soloist Track feature is an advanced version of this
function.
Humanize Soloist Track with Straight Feel / Humanize Soloist Part with Swing Feel: Band-in-a-Box uses intelligent
humanization routines, which can humanize a Soloist from one feel to another, from one tempo to another, and vary the
amount of swing in 8th notes (but not randomly). The results are very musical, with natural sounding MIDI solos.
Humanize Soloist Track opens the Soloist: Quantize to New Tempo or Feel dialog. The humanize effect is broken down into
5 main categories: Tempo, Lateness, 8th Note Spacing, Legato, and Feel.
Loosen up Start Times is a dedicated function to vary the start times of notes on the Melody or Soloist tracks, with options
for what notes to affect (harmony, chords, and amount of variance).
Eliminate Note Overlap – Preserve Double Stops / Eliminate Note Overlap – Remove Double Stops open a Choose Range
dialog to select the range of bars where note overlap will be eliminated while double stops are either preserved or eliminated.
There is an option to treat channels as a separate track.
Timeshift Soloist Track (ticks) allows you to move the Soloist forward or backwards in small increments relative to the rest
of the song tracks. (Measured in ticks or parts per quarter, PPQ.)
Insert Beat(s) in Soloist Track allows you to insert a blank beat or beats into the song relative to the current time signature.
Delete Beat(s) from Soloist Track allows you to delete a beat or beats from the song relative to the current time signature.
Transpose shows a submenu with options for transposing the Soloist track.
Transpose Soloist Part allows you to transpose the Soloist track without affecting the other tracks in the song.
Transpose One Octave Down / Transpose One Octave Up transposes the Soloist part one octave in either direction. This is
often useful if the Soloist instrument has been changed. Transposing can be done while the song plays.
Form
Copy First Chorus to Whole Song stretches the Soloist track out over the entire song (i.e., first, last, and middle choruses).
Erase from All Choruses erases the Soloist track and any data that was contained therein.
Erase from First Chorus / Erase from Middle Choruses / Erase from Last Chorus: These menu commands allow you to
eliminate the Soloist from any chorus.
Transform Waltz Melody & Soloist to 4/4: If you have a song with a 3/4 time signature, you can instantly hear it as a 4/4
feel. Simply load the Waltz song and then change the style to a 4/4 style. Band-in-a-Box uses intelligent algorithms to
transform the Soloist track to the new time signature.
Transform 4/4 Melody & Soloist to Waltz: You can automatically transform any 4/4 song to a Waltz 3/4 feel. Simply load in
any 4/4 song and change the style to a Waltz style. The program will offer to transform the Soloist track so that it works as a
Waltz. It’s fun and educational to hear and play familiar songs in a Waltz feel.
Adjust Level of Soloist Track allows you to increase or decrease the volume (velocity) of the Soloist track without affecting
the other tracks.
Copy to Melody Track copies the entire contents of the Soloist track to the Melody Track. This is useful for a temporary
holding area for your Soloist or for bouncing tracks.
Move to Melody Track copies the entire contents of the Soloist track and erases the original data from the Soloist track,
preparing it for a new track or data.
Swap Melody and Soloist Track performs a “double copy/move” so that the data that was in the Soloist track gets transferred
to the Melody track and vice versa. This is also known as track bouncing.
Convert Harmony to Soloist Track… converts a single line Soloist track to include the current harmony selection.
Remove Harmony (or guitar solo) from Soloist Track removes a harmony from a track, providing that the harmony was put
there by Band-in-a-Box in the first place using the Convert Harmony to Soloist Track command.
Generate Guitar Chord Solo opens the Guitar feature dialog for generating a guitar chord solo.
Auto-Rechannel to Guitar Display converts channels on a track to channels 11 to 16. Channels 11 to 16 are used by Band-in-
a-Box to indicate strings 1 to 6 of a guitar. It uses the current position marker on the guitar for this command. A popup
question will ask if you want to include events that are already on the guitar channels.
Rechannel to Specific Guitar Fret Position over Range changes the fret position over the selected range.

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 Piano Hand-Split manually splits a piano part on a Melody or Soloist track using the intelligent hand-splitting routines. The
left/right hands display in red/blue on the big piano, and on bass/treble clefs on the notation. Import a piano MIDI file to the
Soloist track to get a split-hands display and printout.
Adjust Legato/Staccato by… allows you to increase legato of the Soloist track by N ticks, avoiding the next note by M ticks,
or reduce the length of notes by N ticks, preserving a minimum of M ticks duration of notes. To increase legato of the notes,
enter a positive number in the first dialog. The duration of notes in the track will be increased by this number of ticks. Then, in
the next dialog, specify the number of ticks to avoid next note. To reduce the length of notes, enter a negative number in the
first dialog. The duration of notes in the track will be decreased by this number of ticks. Then, in the next dialog, specify the
minimum duration of notes.
Adjust Channels by will adjust all MIDI channels by the number value entered.
Scales shows a submenu with options for generating scales. The menu items Generate Scales and Auto-Generate Scales when
play pressed allow you to generate scales for a certain song or auto-generate them for all loaded songs. You can view the scales
in the notation and the on-screen guitar and piano.

Audio Menu
The Record Audio function is used to record audio using a microphone plugged into your sound card or a guitar (or mixer)
plugged into the line-in on your sound card.
The next two items, Record Audio and MIDI (Melody) and Record Audio and MIDI (Soloist) refer to the situation where you
want to simultaneously record audio (vocals etc.) as well as MIDI. You can record MIDI to any track.
The Plugin menu command refers to running a plug-in audio effect. This applies an audio effect such as Reverb or Chorus to
the already recorded audio part. Band-in-a-Box comes with a large selection of high-quality audio effects built-in, such as
Compressor, Gate, Distortion, Reverb, Echo, Chorus, Flanger, Ring Mod, Tremolo, Tone Control, Graphic EQ, Parametric EQ,
Gain Change, De-Ess, Auto-Wah, Pitch Shift, Exciter, Enhancer and Hum Filter. DirectX plug-ins from PG Music and other
makers are also supported.
Edit Audio shows a submenu with options for editing the Audio track.
Copy Fist Chorus to Whole Song copies the first chorus of audio to the rest of the song.
Erase Audio from All Choruses is used to erase the entire Audio Track.
Erase Audio from Choruses will erase the First Chorus, Middle Choruses, or the Last Chorus as chosen from a list box.
Erase Region of Audio will erase a specified region of bars/beats of audio.
Adjust Volume Level of Audio Track changes the volume of the Audio track itself. It uses a sophisticated peak-limiting
algorithm to ensure that increases in the volume do not result in clipping of the sound, which would be heard as a loud
distortion. It accepts units of decibels (dB). Zero means no change in the level, whereas +6 would be a doubling of the sound,
and –6 halves the sound level.
Timeshift Audio (ms) is used to time shift the whole Audio track a certain number of milliseconds. Normally you wouldn’t
have to time shift a track at all. There are settings in the Audio Settings dialog that can adjust for synchronization differences
between your sound card and MIDI devices (for example, the VSC has a 430ms latency). But the time shift audio command
can be useful in special cases.
Tip: 1000ms = 1 second. Positive values move the Audio track ahead, negative values move it back.
Insert Silence in Audio Track lets you insert silence of the specified length at the specified location. For example, if you
decide to add an extra 2 bars to the intro in Band-in-a-Box, and you’ve already recorded an audio, you should insert 2 bars (8
beats in a 4/4 time signature) into the Audio track as well.
Delete Region of Audio Track will delete a region of audio, eliminating the created gap.
Convert Channels (Mono/Stereo) allows you to convert the Audio track from stereo to mono, or vice versa. There is an option
to choose the percentage of each channel.
Audio Drivers/Settings opens the Audio Settings dialog where you can select an audio driver (WAS, ASIO, or MME) or the
settings.
Playback Mixer / Playback VU Meter takes you directly to the Windows® Playback control to adjust volumes on your sound
card. Note that not all sound devices have VU meters.
Recording Mixer / Recording VU Meter takes you directly to the Windows® Recording control to adjust volumes on your
sound card. Note that not all sound devices have VU meters.
Export Song as Audio File allows you to save the song as an audio file.
Import Audio (WAV, WMA, MP3, WMV) will open an audio file in WAV, MP3, Windows® Media Player, or CD Audio
format.
Audio Edit Window launches the audio edit window where the wave file can be viewed and edited.
Audio Harmonies, Pitch Tracking, Fix Tuning opens the Audio Harmony dialog, which allows you to harmonize the audio or
correct out-of-tune notes.

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Audio Transcribe (monophonic) transcribes the audio data as MIDI data.
Audio Chord Wizard opens the Audio Edit window and allows you to use the Audio Chord Wizard feature.
Set Audio Master (Base) Tempo is used to ensure that tempo stretches are based on correct master tempo. It uses a sophisticated
peak-limiting algorithm to ensure that increases in the volume do not result in clipping of the sound, which would be heard as a
loud distortion.
Render Song to Audio Track (and Disable Tracks): Use this to render all tracks to the Audio track and disable track generation.
Un-Render Song from Audio Tracks (Enables Tracks, Erase Audio Track): Use this to erase a rendered Audio track and
enable track generation.

Harmony Menu
Melody Harmony (Select) shows you the complete harmony styles list and allows you to choose one for the current Melody
track.
Thru Harmony (Select) shows you the complete harmony styles list and allows you to choose one for the current Thru track.
Favorite Melody Harmonies shows your favorite 50 harmony styles (based on recent usage) and allows you to choose one to
use on the Melody track.
Favorite Thru Harmonies shows your favorite 50 harmony styles (based on recent usage) and allows you to choose one to use
on the Thru track.
Real Time MIDI Harmonies: This feature allows you to play harmonies in real time. Use this with your MIDI keyboard (while
Band-in-a-Box is stopped). When the dialog is open, you can play a chord with the left hand (below the split point set in the
dialog), and the chord you play is and displayed in the dialog. Then, the notes that you play in the right hand will get
harmonized according to this left-hand chord. If you set the “Only Harmonize if Left hand chord held down,” you will be able to
control what notes get harmonized by holding down the chord when you want a note to be harmonized.
Audio Harmonies, Pitch Tracking, Fix Tuning opens the Audio Harmony dialog, which allows you to harmonize the audio or
correct out-of-tune notes.
Harmonies Maker shows a submenu with options for making or editing harmonies.
Start a New Harmonies File allows you to make and edit Harmony styles saved under your own filename.
Edit a Harmonies File allows you to edit a Harmony file that is in the C:\bb\Data directory.
Edit Current Harmonies File allows you to edit the Harmony file that is currently loaded on your system.
Convert Harmony to Melody Track converts a single line Melody track to include the current harmony selection, with options
to convert the whole song or specify a range of bars, to eliminate note overlaps, and loosen note start times.
Convert Harmony to Soloist Track converts a single line Soloist track to include the current harmony selection (On the Thru
harmony), with options to convert the whole song or specify a range of bars, to eliminate note overlaps, and loosen note start
times.
Harmony Settings shows a submenu with options for using harmonies.
OK to Load Harmonies with Songs: Enable this menu item if you want to load any harmony settings that were
saved/embedded in a given song.
Save Harmony with This Song: Enable this menu item to allow Band-in-a-Box to embed the harmony settings for the current
song so that they may be recalled automatically at a later time.
Change Harmony with New Chord: Enable this menu item to allow the program to vary the harmony characteristics (e.g.,
inversions) each time a new chord is encountered in the song.
Allow Melody Harmony: Enable this menu item to allow harmonies on the Melody MIDI channels.
Allow Thru Harmony: Enable this menu item to allow harmonies on the Thru MIDI channels.
Allow Soloist Harmony (on THRU Harmony): Enable this menu item to allow the Thru MIDI channels to utilize the harmony
features for the Soloist track.
Use Passing Harmonies for THRU: When playing along on a MIDI keyboard (or the Wizard) using a Thru harmony, you can
use passing harmonies. For example, on a C7 chord, with an Ab note, the harmony might be a B diminished chord, which is a
passing harmony.
Only THRU Harmonize if note held down = 36 (C3): By setting this option you can specify to only harmonize the note if a
certain note is held down. (The default note is a C two octaves below middle C.)

Window Menu
The Window menu launches various windows in Band-in-a-Box.
Notation opens a submenu with options for Notation display for your song.
Notation (or Chords) Window toggles between the notation and the chord sheet views.
Movable Notation Window opens a movable and resizable notation window.

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 Notation/Edit/Note Roll Mode moves the notation window through its various entry modes.
Note Insert Mode: Toggling this to “on” allows you to insert notes graphically with your mouse or keyboard on the notation
window.
Mono Entry Mode: Toggle this “on” if you are inserting single notes (not chords) on the notation window.
Clean Display Mode: Toggle this “on” if you want notes displayed on your notation window in a quantized view (does not
affect song playback).
Event List Editor: You can edit events including all MIDI events and lyric events using the Event List Editor. You can edit the
Melody, Soloist, Lyrics, or StyleMaker patterns using this event list. The information in the Event List is color coded by
channels for multi-channel Melody and Soloist tracks.
The event list can also be launched from the Notation window by pressing the event list button (#).
Play Previous Screen backs the song up four bars.
Play Next Screen moves the song to the next four bars.
Track Displayed: Since there is not enough room on the screen to display the notation for all instruments, only one is
displayed at a time. You can choose which one you want to display from this menu option or with the instrument buttons on
the Notation window.
Switch to Next Track / Switch to Previous Track select tracks from left to right.
Lead Sheet Window launches the lead sheet notation.
Lyrics shows a submenu with options to open lyrics windows or Vocal Wizard.
Big Lyrics Window launches a window that displays lyrics in a Karaoke format.
Lyric Document Window displays a full screen of formatted lyrics. You can easily copy and paste lyrics to and from your
favorite word processor. The lyrics will also display in the Big Lyrics window.
Show Karaoke Window allows you to see scrolling Karaoke lyrics in a Karaoke MP3/CDG file.
Vocal Wizard selects and transposes the song to the best key for the singer’s vocal range.
Audio Edit shows a submenu with options to open two types of windows.
Audio Edit Window allows you to edit audio data, using copy, cut, and paste. You can zoom the audio in to the sample level so
that you can see the actual sine waves present.
Moveable Audio Edit Window opens the regular Audio Edit window but lets you reposition it on the screen.
Piano Roll shows a submenu with options to open two types of windows.
Piano Roll Window launches the Piano Roll window where you can edit the Melody or Soloist track in a traditional piano roll
format.
Moveable Piano Roll Window opens the regular Piano Roll window, but lets you move and reposition it on the screen.
Big Piano Window launches a window that displays a Big Piano.
Drum Kit Window launches the animated Drum Kit.
Guitar Window launches an on-screen Guitar.
Floating Mixer Window opens or closes the mixer.
Fullscreen Chord Sheet View displays Notation screen or Chord Sheet in full screen mode.
MIDI Monitor displays a list of MIDI data received from computer MIDI Input and/or Band-in-a-Box output, useful for
educational or diagnostic purposes.
Guitar Tuner opens the Tuner. This is optimized for guitar and bass, though it may be useful with other instruments.
Ear Training Window: You can practice your ear training with help from Band-in-a-Box. In addition to the common interval
exercises (perfect 4th, minor 2nd, etc.), learning to play-by-ear for jazz and pop music is further enhanced by ear training
exercises to recognize common chord types (e.g., Major, Minor, Dominant, etc.)
You will also see buttons that launch musical games for fun while you train your ear. [Pitch Invasion] helps to develop perfect
pitch as you shoot down “alien” notes invading from above (you hear the note sound, and click on the on-screen Piano, MIDI or
QWERTY to shoot them down). [Music Replay] develops your pitch, rhythm, and melody recognition by replaying what the
program plays in note, rhythm, or melodic modes.
Practice Window allows convenient 1-click access to many Band-in-a-Box features that help you with practicing. These include
the Ear Training dialog, games (Pitch Invasion etc.), Metronome, CopyMe, Sight Reading, 101 Riffs series, and more.
Conductor Window: As the song is playing, many “single key” hotkeys are available to control the playback and looping of the
song. For example, pressing the “4” key will ensure that the middle chorus is the next one played, and pressing the “S” key will
ensure that the middle section is looped. This would be useful to extend a song that has the last chorus playing. Custom loop
points can also be set for each song.
These settings are ideal for live performance, or “jam sessions” where you aren’t entering new Band-in-a-Box songs but want
full control of the playback. These loops happen seamlessly at the end of the chorus, so are suitable for the “dance floor.” In

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addition, you can control Band-in-a-Box from a standard MIDI keyboard, pressing MIDI keys corresponds to program
functions. For example, load the next song, play/pause/tempo adjust/change thru patch/jump to middle choruses/open the
notation or lead sheet window – all from your MIDI keyboard!
Chord Builder
Chord Builder allows you to build up chords using mouse clicks.
Play Current Chord plays the current chord on the Chord Sheet. It is most commonly accessed by pressing Shift+Enter on the
Chord Sheet.
MIDI Chord Detection shows you submenu items for entering chords from a keyboard. Select MIDI Chord Detection… and
play any chord on your MIDI keyboard. Band-in-a-Box will then provide you with up to 4 interpretations of the chord you
played, with its best suggestion at the top and alternates below.
Plug-in Mode for DAW puts Band-in-a-Box into plug-in mode, open as a small always-on-top window that acts as a plug-in for
your favorite DAW/sequencer so that you can drag-and-drop MIDI and audio (WAV) tracks from BB to your favorite
sequencer. The DAW Plug-in mode is a mode within the regular Band-in-a-Box program. This mode allows you to transfer
tracks, or parts of tracks, to other DAW Sequencers easily, by simply dragging the track icons from Band-in-a-Box (BB) to the
tracks window of your DAW.
BB2Go (Prepare mp4 files for iPhone version): Band-in-a-Box for iPhone (BB iPhone) is an app for iOS devices including
iPhone®, iPad®, and iPod Touch®. The BB iPhone version is meant to function as a client to the regular Band-in-a-Box desktop
version. The BB iPhone app is available separately from the Apple® App Store, https://www.apple.com/iphone/apps-for-
iphone/.
Note: If you don’t own a copy of the BB Desktop software, the usefulness of the BB iPhone version will be quite limited.
The iPhone version of Band-in-a-Box will see the “BB2Go” folder (C:\bb\BB2Go). Any Band-in-a-Box songs that you put in
this folder are visible to the BB iPhone. You can send files back and forth from BB iPhone to Band-in-a-Box for Windows®, and
the files go to the BB2Go folder. You can add audio to the Band-in-a-Box files in the BB2Go folder from the Band-in-a-Box
Windows menu with the BB2Go command and select the files that you want to have MP4/M4A audio added. You can also
generate the audio from the iPhone version.

Help Menu
Index lists all the Help topics. Type in a keyword under the “Index” tab to go to the topic you want.
Help Topics shows a submenu with options to open help topics.
Topic Search opens the Help file where you can search the Table of Contents or the Index or use the Search feature to find
your topic.
Using help has Windows® tips for using Help files.
How to…opens a categorized list of topics. It’s a fast way to find out about a particular feature or operation.
Basics goes directly to the “Basics” introduction to Band-in-a-Box.
Tutorials shows submenus with options to open detailed, step-by-step instructions for Band-in-a-Box.
Update, Add/On and other Product info shows other Band-in-a-Box add-ons, PG Music Inc. products, and contact
information.
ReadMe (for Latest info not in manual) documents the latest features, plus an archive of earlier updates.
Newest Features describes the new features in the current version.
Feature Browser opens the Feature Browser dialog that lists many features in Band-in-a-Box and allows you to browse them,
find the feature by text filter, read descriptions about the feature, find how to launch the feature, access to the online information
or video about the feature, and do more.
Program Manuals (pdf) has a submenu with options for opening the program manuals.
Display Program Manual will open a .pdf file of the full Band-in-a-Box manual in Acrobat Reader. Follow the bookmarks to
find specific topics.
Display Program Upgrade Manual will open a .pdf of the upgrade manual for this particular version of Band-in-a-Box, which
may include new documentation not yet added to the full manual. The upgrade manual is often a more convenient way to
reference the new features in Band-in-a-Box without looking through the full manual.
Show Help Hints: Band-in-a-Box has comprehensive fly-by hints that appear when you move over an item. These include hints
for the dialog boxes and various windows. You can set the hints to display none, basic, or detailed information.
Tip of the Day: This feature can be set to run automatically when Band-in-a-Box opens. If you want to add your own tips, you
can edit the BBW.TIP file. Just put a tip on a single line (no carriage return till the end of the tip). Tips are limited to 255
characters per tip. Band-in-a-Box automatically compiles the BBW.TIP file at startup of the program to a binary file called
BBW.TPB.
Check for Updates: User can check/download/pause/continue/install for a newer version (not free), newer build (free), and
updated RealTracks files (free). You can set whether you want any checking for updates at boot up to be done, and if so, how

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often. (Note: A setting of 0 days will check every time you run the program.) You can also press the [Refresh] button to check
for a major or minor upgrade of the program and RealTracks patches. Download free updates within this dialog when available.
What add-ons do I have?: One of the greatest strengths of Band-in-a-Box is the ability to add-on and enhance the program
through add-on RealTracks, RealDrums Styles, Soloists, and more. The “What Add-ons” feature in the Help menu scans your
computer’s Band-in-a-Box directory and displays what add-ons are and aren’t found. To see the latest add-ons, click on the
[www.pgmusic.com/addons.htm] button to go directly to the add-ons page on the PG Music Inc. web site.
Web www.pgmusic.com shows links to some important pages on the PG Music Inc. web site. Selecting one of these topics will
automatically launch your Web Browser, and direct you to the PG Music web site.
About Band-in-a-Box launches a dialog with key information such as the version number you are running and computer system
information.
Utilities
Display Log Text file of Yellow/Green Messages: The yellow/green flash messages and date/time are saved in a file called
C:\bb\Data\Logs\FlashMessageLog.txt. You can open this file inside the program at any time by choosing this menu command
or pressing the L O G Enter keys.
Install Coyote WaveTable Synth runs the setup program for the Coyote WT 1.0 software synthesizer.
Write BandInABoxRequest File creates a file that you can email to [email protected] if you have a problem activating
the program.
Run Cleanup Routine: The Band-in-a-Box folder (usually C:\bb) has become full of lots of files over the years. Up to 10,000
files are present in the folder on a full install of the UltraPAK. This menu command will run a utility app
C:\bb\Data\BB_cleanup.exe, which will unclutter the folder and move files to various subfolders. (Note: This utility will run
automatically during the Band-in-a-Box program installation, so normally you don’t need to run this manually.)
Run Download/Install Manager Now: The Download and Install Manager can be used to download and install all of the files
in any product that you order at www.pgmusic.com, with one click.
Activate Band-in-a-Box (Serial Number Required) allows you to activate Band-in-a-Box if you haven’t done so yet. Band-in-
a-Box needs to be activated within 30 days after you first run Band-in-a-Box.

Shortcuts: Keystroke Commands - Hotkeys

Quick Song Settings
Typing special words, instead of chord names, will make the following settings:
B E G I N Enter Sets the beginning of the chorus to the current bar.
C H O R U S E N D Enter Sets the end of the chorus to the current bar.
E N D Enter Sets the end of the song to the current bar.
T K C Enter Sets the key signature to C. (T K B B would set it to Bb.)
T R C Enter Transposes song to key of C.
T 1 2 5 Enter Sets the tempo to 125.
[ Decreases the tempo by 5.
] Increases the tempo by 5.
You can use hotkeys to set the time signature for the current bar. Just type a time signature (4/4, 3/4 2/4, or 1/4, and it will be
entered to the current bar. Typing 0/4 clears the time signature from the current bar.
K Quick Copy
K Enter copies the last 8 bars to the current location.
By adding additional keys, you can specify the number of bars to copy. For example, K 1 2 , 3 Enter would copy 12 bars from
bar 3 to current location.
There is a hotkey to insert N bars at the current location. For example, I N 8 Enter would insert 8 bars, I N 4 Enter would insert
4 bars, etc.
There is also hotkey to copy the last N bars and insert them to the current location. For example, K I 8 Enter or I K 8 Enter
would copy the last 8 bars and insert them to the current location.
By adding additional keys, you can specify the copy source location. For example, I K 8 , 9 Enter or K I 8 , 9 Enter would
copy 8 bars from the bar 9 and insert them to the current location. I K K 8 , 9 Enter or K K I 8 , 9 Enter would do the same,
but launch the Copy Chord and/or Melody dialog, which allows you to choose what to copy.
Quick-Load Songs and Styles
You can quickly load a song by typing only. In chord entry mode (Chord Sheet or Notation window) type the word “song”
followed by a file name or partial file name + Enter and the song will get loaded if it is in the current folder. Typing “bossa”
would load in the first song with bossa in the name AFTER the current song name in the current folder.

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To change to another folder, type “song” followed by the full path and file name. For example, type song and then
C:\bb\zzjazz.mg1+Enter to load in that exact song name.
Quick-load a style by typing “style” followed by a style name. For example, S T Y L E Z Z B O S S A Enter will load
zzbossa.sty.
Muting Tracks
Alt+2 Mute all tracks.
Alt+3 Mute the Bass track.
Alt+4 Mute the Piano track.
Alt+5 Mute the Drums track.
Alt+6 Mute the Guitar track.
Alt+7 Mute the Strings track.
Alt+8 Mute the Melody track.
Alt+9 Mute the Soloist track.
Alt+0 Mute the Thru track.
Soloing Tracks
Alt+Shift+Z Solo the current track.
Alt+2 then Alt+3 Solo the Bass track.
Alt+2 then Alt+4 Solo the Piano track.
Alt+2 then Alt+5 Solo the Drums track.
Alt+2 then Alt+6 Solo the Guitar track.
Alt+2 then Alt+7 Solo the Strings track.
Alt+2 then Alt+8 Solo the Melody track.
Alt+2 then Alt+9 Solo the Soloist track.
Alt+2 then Alt+0 Solo the Thru track.
Selecting Tracks
Ctrl+F5 Switch to the next track.
Ctrl+Shift+F5 Switch to the previous track.
Ctrl+3 Select the Bass track.
Ctrl+4 Select the Piano track.
Ctrl+5 Select the Drums track.
Ctrl+6 Select the Guitar track.
Ctrl+7 Select the Strings track.
Ctrl+8 Select the Melody track.
Ctrl+9 Select the Soloist track.
Track Mixer Settings
Ctrl+Shift+Q Decrease the current track’s volume by 5.
Ctrl+Shift+W Increase the current track’s volume by 5
Ctrl+Shift+E Decrease the current track’s panning by 5.
Ctrl+Shift+R Increase the current track’s panning by 5
Ctrl+Shift+T Decrease the current track’s reverb by 5.
Ctrl+Shift+Y Increase the current track’s reverb by 5.
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+R Set the current track’s volume.
Ctrl+Alt+A Decrease master volume by 5.
Ctrl+Alt+S Increase master volume by 5.
Ctrl+Alt+D Set master volume.
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Q Decrease all tracks’ volumes by 5.
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+W Increase all tracks’ volumes by 5.
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E Set all tracks’ volumes.

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Windows
/ Enter Feature Browser.
Ctrl+T Display Notation screen or Chord Sheet in full screen.
Ctrl+W Toggle Notation and Chord Sheet windows.
Ctrl+O Movable Notation window.
Alt+W Lead Sheet window.
Ctrl+P Print Lead Sheet
Ctrl+~ Conductor window.
Ctrl+Shift+A Audio Edit window.
Ctrl+Shift+D Drum Kit window.
Ctrl+Shift+G Guitar window.
Ctrl+Shift+J Ear training window.
Ctrl+Shift+L Big Lyrics window.
Ctrl+Shift+M Mixer Window
Ctrl+Shift+N Big Piano window.
Ctrl+Shift+S Plug-in mode for DAW.
Alt+Shift+L Practice window.
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+L Lyric Document window.
Opening Song
S S 4 Enter, F3, Alt+Shift+F3 Open song.
S S 7 Enter, Ctrl+Shift+F8 Open previous song (in alphabetical order).
S S 8 Enter, Shift+F8 Open next song (in alphabetical order).
S S 1 Enter, S S Enter, Ctrl+F3 Open song using the Song Picker window.
S S 2 Enter, Shift+F3 Open song from favorite songs list.
S S 3 Enter, Shift+F3 Open song from recently played songs list.
S S 6 Enter, Alt+Shift+F Open song from favorite folders.
Alt+F3 Open song with melodies.
S S 9 Enter Open MIDI file.
S S 1 3 Enter Open Karaoke file.
S S 1 0 Enter Open audio file.
S S 1 1 Enter Find song
S S 1 2 Enter, S 9 Enter Open song demo for the current style.
S S 1 4 Enter Open audio file and launch the Audio Chord Wizard.
Opening Styles
S 6 Enter, F9 Open style.
S 7 Enter, Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F8 Open previous style (in alphabetical order).
S 8 Enter, Alt+Shift+F8 Open next style (in alphabetical order).
S Enter, S 1 Enter, Ctrl+F9 Open style using the StylePicker.
S 4 Enter, Shift+F9 Open style from recently played styles list.
S 5 Enter, Shift+F9 Open style from favorite styles list.
S 2 Enter Show the Best RealStyles list.
S 3 Enter Open the Song Titles Brower.
S 1 0 Enter Play audio demo for the current style.
RealTracks/RealDrums/Loops
R T Enter, R T 1 Enter Select RealTracks in the RealTracks Picker.
R T 2 Enter RealTracks Settings.
R T 3 Enter Select Best All RealTracks.
R T 4 Enter Select Best Chording RealTracks.
R T 5 Enter Select Best Soloist RealTracks.

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R D Enter, R D 1 Enter Select RealDrums in the RealDrums Picker.
R D 3Enter Select RealDrums in the RealDrums QuickList.
Ctrl+Shift+F6 Enable/Disable RealDrums
R D 2 Enter RealDrums Settings.
R L l Enter Select Loop.
Saving Song
F2, Ctrl+S Save song.
Alt+F2 Save song with patches.
Alt+Shift+S Save song to favorite folder.
Playing and Recording Song
F4 Play song with generation.
Ctrl+A Play song with no generation.
Ctrl+F Play song from any bar.
Ctrl+G Play song from current bar.
F10 Play and loop the highlighted area.
Ctrl+H Pause/Resume playing song.
Spacebar, Esc Stop playing/recording song.
Ctrl+R Record MIDI.
Ctrl+Alt+R Record MIDI from any bar.
Looping / Song Navigation Keystrokes
NUMPAD 1 Toggle looping on/off.
NUMPAD 2 Open Loop Section Settings dialog.
Ctrl+NUMPAD 1 Play with last chorus looped.
Ctrl+NUMPAD 2 Play with middle choruses looped.
Ctrl+NUMPAD 3 Play with middle and last choruses looped.
Ctrl+NUMPAD 4 Jump to last chorus.
Ctrl+NUMPAD 5 Jump to ending.
Ctrl+NUMPAD 7 Loop Notation screen.
NUMPAD [DEL] Advances the notation, lead sheet, and guitar window by one chord (group of notes).
NUMPAD [INS] Backs up the notation, lead sheet, and guitar window by one chord.
L Enter Play from the current bar and loop for 4 bars. (“4” can be changed with the Loop Section Settings dialog.)
L 8 Enter Play from the current bar and loop for 8 bars.
L 8, 12 Enter Play from bar 12 and loop for 8 bars.
L 8, 12, 2 Enter Play from bar 12 of chorus 2 and loop for 8 bars.
Editing Song
Ctrl+C Copy.
Ctrl+X Cut.
Ctrl+V Paste.
Ctrl+Z Undo.
Shift+Ctrl+Z Redo.
Alt+C Copy from … to…
Alt+K Erase from … to…
Ctrl+Shift+V Paste text to Song(s).
F5 Edit current bar options.
Alt+F5 Edit current chord options.
F6, M Enter Set MicroChords.
Ctrl+Alt+T Set tempo.
Ctrl = Set to normal speed.
Ctrl - Set to half speed.

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F7, T Enter Track Settings and Actions dialog.
Ctrl+N Song Settings.
Ctrl+Shift+B Chord Builder.
Shift+Enter Play current chord
Ctrl+Alt+I Import chords from MIDI file.
Alt+Shift+T Auto-generate a title.
Ctrl+Alt+1 Transpose Melody track one octave down.
Ctrl+Alt+2 Transpose Melody track one octave up.
Ctrl+Alt+3 Transpose Soloist track one octave down.
Ctrl+Alt+4 Transpose Soloist track one octave up.
Ctrl+Alt+5 Transpose song by one semitone down.
Ctrl+Alt+6 Transpose song by one semitone up.
Ctrl+Alt+7 Transpose song by a specified number of semitones.
Shift+F5 Select Melodist.
Shift+F4 Select Soloist.
Shift+F7 Refresh Melodist or Soloist.
Alt+F10 Select Melody harmony.
Alt+F11 Select Thru harmony.
Ctrl+F10 Select favorite Melody harmony.
Ctrl+F11 Select favorite Thru harmony.
Shift+F10 Allow Melody harmony.
Shift+F11 Allow Thru Harmony.
Ctrl+Alt+E Toggle Melody Embellisher.
Ctrl+Alt+L Melody Embellisher dialog.
Editing Notes in Notation Window
N Enter a note at the current time line.
M Add a note a third above the current note on the time line
R Enter a rest at the current time line.
Up Cursor Change the pitch of the highlighted note by 1 semitone up.
Down Cursor Change the pitch of the highlighted note by 1 semitone down.
Right Cursor Move the time line forward.
Left Cursor Move the time line backward.
Shift+L/R Cursor Highlight the current note on the time line.
Ctrl+Alt+Right Cursor Change the time of the highlighted note by +5 ticks.
Ctrl+Alt+Left Cursor Change the time of the highlighted note by -5 ticks.
Editing MIDI in Piano Roll Window
Ctrl+A Select the whole track.
Ctrl+C Copy the selected MIDI to the clipboard.
Ctrl+X Cut the selected MIDI.
Ctrl+V Paste the copied MIDI to the current location and overwrites the existing MIDI.
Ctrl+Shift+V Paste the copied MIDI to the current location and merges it with the existing MIDI.
Delete Delete the selected MIDI.
+ (plus) Increase velocities of all selected MIDI by 1.
Shift++ Increase velocities of all selected MIDI by 5.
– (minus) Decrease velocities of all selected MIDI by 1
Shift+- Decrease velocities of all selected MIDI by 5
~ (tilde) Randomize velocities of all selected MIDI by -1 to +1.
Shift+~ Randomize velocities of the selected MID by -5 to +5.

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Editing Audio in Audio Edit Window
Home Move the cursor to the beginning of the track.
End Move the cursor to the end of the track.
Shift+Home Move the left cursor of the selected region to the beginning of the track.
Shift+End Move the right cursor to the end of the track.
Ctrl+A Select the whole track.
Ctrl+C Copy the selected region to the clipboard.
Ctrl+X Cut the selected region of audio.
Ctrl+V Paste the copied audio to the current location and overwrites the existing audio.
Ctrl+Shift+V Paste the copied audio to the current location and merges it with the existing audio.
Delete Erase the selected region of audio
Shift+Delete Delete the selected region of audio.
StyleMaker
Alt+F9 Open StyleMaker to edit any style.
Ctrl+Shift+F9 Open StyleMaker to edit current style.
F1, Shift+F1, Ctrl+F1 Help.
F2 Save style.
Alt+F2 Save style as …
R, F3 Record pattern.
Spacebar, F4 Play pattern.
F8 Play pattern on chord.
F10 Edit pattern options.
F6, Shift+F6 Change tracks.
Cursor Keys Move around screen.
Alt+F4 Quit the StyleMaker.
F5 [Drum Pattern Editor] Drum alternate notes.
ZXCVBNM,./ (bottom row) [Drum Pattern Editor] Drum note entry.
F6 [Drum Pattern Editor] Time base.
F10, Alt+F4 [Drum Pattern Editor] Exit.
More Hotkeys
Ctrl+Alt+Q Send GM mode on message.
Ctrl+E Preferences dialog.
F12 Panic! All notes off.
F1 Help.
Ctrl+F1 Help – Topic Search.
Shift+F1 Help – How To.
Alt+F4 Quit the program.
L O G Enter Show the flash message log file (FlashMessageLog.txt).
Additional Keystrokes
There are additional keystrokes available, listed on the pulldown menus beside the function. Hotkeys may access any function
on the pull-down menu by pressing the Alt key and the first letter of the Menu followed by the underlined letter of the
command. For example, Alt+F+O would access File | Open.

Chord List
Commonly used chords are displayed here in bold type.
Notes:
It is not necessary to type upper or lower case. The program will sort this out for you.
Any chord may be entered with an alternate root (“Slash Chord”) e.g.: C7/E = C7 with E bass.
Separate chords with commas to enter 2 chords in a 2-beat cell, e.g., Dm,G7
Major Chords
C, Cmaj, C6, Cmaj7, Cmaj9, Cmaj13, C69, Cmaj7#5, C5b, Caug, C+, Cmaj9#11, Cmaj13#11

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Minor Chords
Cm, Cm6, Cm7, Cm9, Cm11, Cm13, Cmaug, Cm#5, CmMaj7
Half Diminished Chords
Cm7b5
Diminished Chords
Cdim
Dominant 7th Chords
C7, C7+, C9+, C13+, C13, C7b13, C7#11, C13#11, C7#11b13, C9,
C9b13, C9#11, C13#11, C9#11b13, C7b9, C13b9, C7b9b13, C7b9#11,
C13b9#11, C7b9#11b13, C7#9, C13#9, C7#9b13, C9#11, C13#9#11, C7#9#11b13
C7b5, C13b5, C7b5b13, C9b5, C9b5b13, C7b5b9, C13b5b9, C7b5b9b13,
C7b5#9, C13b5#9, C7b5#9b13, C7#5, C13#5, C7#5#11, C13#5#11, C9#5,
C9#5#11, C7#5b9, C13#5b9, C7#5b9#11, C13#5b9#11, C7#5#9, C13#5#9#11,
C7#5#9#11, C13#5#9#11
Suspended 4 Chords
Csus, C7sus, C9sus,
C13sus, C7susb13, C7sus#11, C13sus#11, C7sus#11b13, C9susb13, C9sus#11, C13sus#11, C9sus#11b13, C7susb9, C13susb9,
C7susb9b13, C7susb9#11,
C13susb9#11, C7susb9#11b13, C7sus#9, C13sus#9, C7sus#9b13, C9sus#11, C13sus#9#11, C7sus#9#11b13,
C7susb5, C13susb5, C7susb5b13, C9susb5, C9susb5b13, C7susb5b9,
C13susb5b9, C7susb5b9b13, C7susb5#9, C13susb5#9, C7susb5#9b13,
C7sus#5, C13sus#5, C7sus#5#11, C13sus#5#11, C9sus#5, C9sus#5#11, C7sus#5b9, C13sus#5b9, C7sus#5b9#11,
C13sus#5b9#11, C7sus#5#9, C13sus#5#9#11, C7sus#5#9#11, C13sus#5#9#11
Add2 Chords
Cadd2, Cmadd2
Tricky Chords
C5b This is “C flat 5.” It is spelled this way to avoid confusion.
C2, C5, C4, C69, C7alt, Cm7#5
You can type C-7 for Cm7 (i.e., use the minus sign) or C7-9 for C7b9.
Chords Shortcut
If you enter a lot of songs, you will appreciate these shortcut keys.
J = Maj7 (For example, to type CMaj7, just type CJ.)
H = m7b5 (H stands for Half Diminished.)
D = dim
S = 7sus
Add your own chord shortcuts.
Have you found a chord that Band-in-a-Box doesn’t recognize? If so, add it to your chord shortcuts file, and Band-in-a-Box will
allow you to type in that chord in the future. This also lets you define chord “shortcuts,” one-letter abbreviations for longer
chord names (“J” for “Maj7” etc.). If you find a chord that Band-in-a-Box won’t accept like Csus2, when it expects C2 instead
you can enter this on a single line (without the quotes) “Csus2@C2.” Then Band-in-a-Box will enter the chord C2 if you type in
Csus 2.
The text file C:\bb\Data\Shortcut.txt allows you to add new chord shortcuts. Note that this file doesn’t ship with Band-in-a-Box
(or it would overwrite your file!). The file C:\bb\Data\pgshortc.txt for shortcuts supplied by PG Music. You can add your own
shortcuts in a text file you make yourself and name C:\bb\Data\shortcut.txt.

Band-in-a-Box Files and Folders

By default, Band-in-a-Box is installed to the C:\bb folder. This folder contains following subfolders.
AutoSave: This folder stores the auto-saved songs to prevent losing your work if something crashes on your system.
BB2Go: The iPhone version of Band-in-a-Box will see this folder. You can send files back and forth from BB iPhone to the
desktop version of Band-in-a-Box, and the files go to this folder. You can add audio to the Band-in-a-Box files in this folder
with the Windows | BB2Go menu command in the desktop version of Band-in-a-Box and select the files that you want to have
MP4/M4A audio added.

Chapter 15: Reference 377

BBHelper: This folder contains the program called BandinaBoxServer.exe. You need to have this program running to allow the
BB Remote app to connect to your desktop version of Band-in-a-Box.
Data: This folder contains data for the various Band-in-a-Box features.
Demos: This folder is packed with many demo songs.
Documentation: This contains the program manual, the upgrade manual, the Help file, and additional documentations. It also
contains the Tutorials folder, which includes the files provided for use with the tutorials found in the manual or the help file.
DragDrop is the location for files rendered by dragging tracks to the Drop station.
Drums: This folder has subfolders containing the files for all RealDrums sets installed in your program. It is the default location
recognized by Band-in-a-Box. If this folder is moved or the RealDrums files are installed in a custom location, the new location
must be entered in the RealDrums Settings dialog so that Band-in-a-Box knows where to find them.
DX Settings: The .tgs files that stores VST/DX plugin settings are saved in this folder. It also contains presets of a Hi-Q MIDI
instrument and a VST plugin (e.g., sforzando).
Preferences: The preferences you set in the program are saved in this folder. It includes a file named intrface.bbw, which stores
all the program settings including MIDI and audio driver setup. If you delete this file, the program will open like a new
installation the next time it runs. This is useful as a “global reset” if system settings have been changed by accident and are
difficult to restore.
RealTracks: This folder has subfolders containing the files for all RealTracks installed in your program. It is the default location
recognized by Band-in-a-Box. If this folder is moved or the RealTracks files are installed in a custom location, the new location
must be entered in the RealTracks Settings dialog so that Band-in-a-Box knows where to find them.
Soloists: All Soloist files (ST2 and XT2 files) are stored in this folder.
Songs: This is your “home” folder for the SongPicker. You can put any songs to this folder.
Songs and Lessons: Band-in-a-Box comes with a large library of songs that demonstrate some of the most popular styles of
music as well as songs for listening, learning, and jamming. This folder is packed with musical content for a variety of tastes
and purposes.
Styles: Band-in-a-Box styles use the file extension .sty and are stored in this folder. These are the styles that are listed in the
StylePicker. If you add new styles, they will be installed in this folder and added to the StylePicker list by clicking on the
[Rebuild] button.
TicketsActivated: When you successfully activate Band-in-a-Box, a .bin file will be created in this folder.
Undos: Most undo data are stored in RAM, but bigger data are stored as files in this folder. For example, if you edit audio in the
Audio Edit window, the undo data will be created in this folder.
uninstall: The uninstall programs for the Band-in-a-Box program and addons are saved in this folder.

378 Chapter 15: Reference

 PG Music Inc.
Band-in-a-Box®
is protected by copyright and is the property of
PG Music Inc. and its licensors.
Copyright © 1989-2023 PG Music Inc.
All rights reserved.

PG MUSIC INC.
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Canada

Sales:
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Live Internet Chat: www.pgmusic.com

Be sure to visit the FAQ pages at www.pgmusic.com for information about known troubleshooting issues as well as the latest technical support
bulletins.

PG Music Inc. 379

 Appendix A: RealTracks Sets
Please see https://www.pgmusic.com/products_realtracks.htm for full descriptions and demos of all of the RealTracks sets.
While you’re there be sure to check for new releases.
RealTracks Set 1 This set comes with every package of Band-in-a-Box..
RealTracks Set 2: Country Ballad How would you like top Nashville players to record on your Country Ballad masterpiece?
Now you can with a click of a button! RealTracks Set 2 has so much to choose from, and the different RealTracks styles are
great for mixing and matching. We’ve got acoustic guitar, strumming and finger picking, a beautiful “spacey” electric guitar
with delay effects, as well as a sweet pedal steel part. There’s even a Real Bass to round out that bottom end. You just enter the
chords, press play, and this stellar band will follow you through thick or thin.
RealTracks Set 3: Swingin’ Country Looking for the sweet Country-Swing sound? Go no further than RealTracks Set 3 -
Swingin’ Country. This set includes 2 swing Real Pedal Steel styles that you won’t believe. Also included is a collection of Real
Acoustic Guitar styles that blend oh-so-nicely with those Steel parts. There are 5 swing 8ths acoustic guitar RealTracks,
including both strumming and finger picking.
RealTracks Set 4: Modern Country These days there are fine lines between Rock, Pop, Folk and Country, and the styles in
RealTracks Set 4 weave back and forth across those lines with grace! The Double-time groove includes three instruments that
blend together beautifully: Real Resonator Guitar, Real Acoustic Guitar & Real Bass. Also included is a modern syncopated
groove that includes both acoustic & electric guitars.
RealTracks Set 5: Rockin Guitar Are you in the mood for some down-n-dirty rock-n-roll? We’ve got what you need with
RealTracks Set 5. This set has smokin’ rock & country-rock rhythm guitar grooves, as well as slide guitar soloists! Also
included is a Real Bass style that blends beautifully with the R&B guitar.
RealTracks Set 6: All Metal We’ve got everything you need for the full metal band! With RealTracks Set 6, you get three
different tempos of killer metal rhythm guitar parts and totally tight bass parts. Our superior stretching methods cover the entire
range of tempo possibilities. If you use RealDrums such as “RockHardEven8” (RealDrums Set 4), you can leave MIDI behind
and have an all-real Metal band playing your song!
RealTracks Set 7: Acoustic Jazz Bass and Rock Sax Are you ready for some teal jazz? Well, you’ve come to the right place
with RealTracks Set 7. With Real Double Bass, you get a real bass player playing the changes to your Jazz masterpiece. And,
not only that, you can choose between the straight-ahead, fluid approach of our “Paul” bass style, or the aggressive approach of
our “Ray” style. Also in this set is the “Motown Rock” sax soloist. Hear a hot Real Sax player nailing the changes to your Rock
or Even 8 Jazz tune!
RealTracks Set 8: Country Folk This collection of Country-Folk RealTracks has something for everyone. Whether you’re a
Resonator Guitar fan, fiddle, or just need a basic acoustic guitar strumming pattern for your song, RealTracks Set 8 is the place
to look. With the fantastic stretching capabilities of Band-in-a-Box and RealBand, you’ll easily be able to mix and match the
Resonator Guitar with any of the rhythm guitar parts, or play the Real Fiddle with many of your existing Band-in-a-Box and
RealBand songs.
RealTracks Set 9: Country Electric Guitar It’s time for some Chicken Pickin’! With RealTracks Set 9, you get some great
country guitar grooves and solos played by top Nashville session musicians... Included are two rhythm guitar parts; “Cowboy”
which is a true classic country groove, and “Train,” which is a fast train-beat groove. You also get a soloist for each of these
grooves, which can generate a smokin’ guitar solo over any chord changes you enter!
RealTracks Set 10: All Blues (Shuffle) Whether you’re a vocalist or an instrumentalist, if you want to play the blues, the
most important thing you need is a smokin’ blues band backing you up. With RealTracks Set 10 you can have it all! Just press
play and you have a Real drummer, a Real rhythm guitar player, a Real bassist, a Real B3 player and even a Real harmonica
player all backing you up on a groovin’ Blues Shuffle. And when you’re ready for Band-in-a-Box to take over with some killer
soloing, this set also comes with an electric guitar soloist and harmonica soloist. You can use this Blues Shuffle in any key, over
a wide tempo range (120 - 160bpm), so it’ll play what YOU want it to play.
RealTracks Set 11: All Bluegrass (Rhythm) Have you ever wanted to be the leader of your own Bluegrass band? Tired of
sitting in the wings doing back-up vocals? With RealTracks Set 11 YOU can step out in front of your very own Bluegrass band,
and take charge. Mandolins, fiddles, guitars and banjos abound held to a steady beat by a fat bluegrass bass. Need a backing
track? No problem, THIS band is ready to burn the barn down!
RealTracks Set 12: All Bluegrass (Solos) If you find that your Bluegrass compositions are missing something try filling them
out with a rip-roaring Bluegrass solo. RealTracks Set 12 delivers Banjo, Fiddle, Guitar, and Mandolin solos. Spice up any
Bluegrass song with a foot-stompin’ Banjo solo, or you can really get things going by adding multiple solo instruments. With
the ability to solo in any key, at a wide range of tempo’s, Band-in-a-Box with you at the controls will soon become the life of
the hoe-down!.
RealTracks Set 13: “Older” Jazz Swing Soloists Immerse yourself in the sweet sounds of Classic Jazz with RealTracks Set
13: “Older” Jazz Swing. This collection of Band-in-a-Box RealTracks Soloists includes the essential instruments of Jazz
Soloing: Alto Sax, Trumpet and Trombone. These were recorded by top studio musicians, so you know you’re getting the real
deal! All styles were played at 140bpm, and with the stretching features in Band-in-a-Box and RealBand, they can be used at a

380 Appendix A: RealTracks Sets

wide tempo range effectively (120bpm-180bpm). You can use them in Band-in-a-Box with hundreds of Jazz styles, or in
RealBand on your own multitrack swing 8ths tune.
RealTracks Set 14: Mainstream Swing Imagine having a world-class jazz rhythm section backing you up! Now you can with
RealTracks Set 14: Mainstream Swing - Jazz Rhythm Section. This RealTracks set features cool jazz playing at 140bpm. The
stretching features in Band-in-a-Box and RealBand make these RealTracks even more versatile. You have a choice of either
acoustic piano or jazz electric guitar as your comping instrument, and to round out the bottom end there is an acoustic bass style.
Each of these RealTracks has an A section and a B section, so you can add variety to your song simply by entering different part
markers in Band-in-a-Box or RealBand. For example, if you want the bass playing in “2,” simply change the part marker to “a.”
If you want the bass playing a walking line, simply put in a “b” part marker.
RealTracks Set 15: Mainstream Swing Nothing says ‘sophistication’ like an alto sax intricately weaving its way through a
set of complex jazz lines. That’s now a mouse click away with RealTracks Set 15: Mainstream Swing - Jazz Soloists. Along
with the Alto Sax RealTracks, you receive Trumpet and Trombone, as well as bass soloing and piano soloing, complete with
left-hand comping! In addition, this set also comes with bonus material to augment our previously release Tenor Sax soloist set.
This set, combined with RealTracks Set 14: Mainstream Swing - Jazz Rhythm Section, has everything you need for a complete
Real Jazz Band!
RealTracks Set 16: Bossa Have your dream Bossa band right at your fingertips! With RealTracks Set 16: Bossa - Rhythm
Section, you’ll have everything you need to make the most authentic sounding Latin-Jazz songs around. This balanced set
includes Piano, Acoustic Bass and Electric Guitar RealTracks for use in all keys! With the stretching features in Band-in-a-Box
and RealBand, these styles can be used on a wide range of tempos, making them even more useful. This Latin band sounds real
because it IS real!
RealTracks Set 17: Bossa With RealTracks Set 17: Bossa - Soloists, you’ll have all the tools available to generate a killer
bossa solo with the most authentic sounds available. This set includes hours of Trumpet, Trombone, Alto Sax, and even
Acoustic Bass soloing. These styles can be used with incredible ease in Band-in-a-Box along with existing styles, or use them in
RealBand if you’re looking to add them to your own multi-track creation!
RealTracks Set 18: Jazz Imagine yourself singing in a jazz bar, as the band plays your latest masterpiece. That is the mood
evoked when listening to RealTracks Set 18: Jazz Ballad - Rhythm section. This set includes rhythm tracks for Piano, Acoustic
Bass and Electric Guitar. You can really focus on your melody while the bass, piano and guitar provide solid rhythm and
harmony all around you.
RealTracks Set 19: Jazz Ballad Lay down the most expressive solo for your jazz ballad with RealTracks Set 19: Jazz Ballad -
Soloist. This RealTracks Set comes equipped with Alto Sax, Trombone and Trumpet soloing in every key for your jazz ballad.
And, the great thing is every time you press play, you get a brand new solo! Your jazz ballad composition deserves these killer
lines!
RealTracks Set 20: Dual Rock Guitars Are you ready for some classic rock guitar tones? You’ve come to the right place
with RealTracks Set 20: Dual Rock Guitars. This set features two tempos of Rock ‘n Roll guitar, and with each tempo there are
two guitar styles, intended to be played together for a full band sound. The two guitar parts were recorded by two different top
studio musicians, each playing off of the riffs of the other. At 120bpm, the guitarists play in a laid-back manner, while at 140,
the parts are full of the energy that an up-tempo tune requires. Each part also has different playing for “A” section and “B”
section, so if your song needs an added boost, just put a “B” part marker into your song, and Band-in-a-Box or RealBand does
the rest!
RealTracks Set 21: Clean Strat Rock Add a clean, even, classic rock guitar sound to all your songs, old and new, with
RealTracks Set 21: Clean Strat Rock. Use the Rhythm Guitar with your Verses while letting the Soloist fly during a Chorus; it
will sound like you have a professional studio musician over to lay down some tracks - and you do! The Rhythm Guitars cover a
wide range of tempos while the Soloist is best suited for an up tempo song. Any way you use them, these RealTracks will add a
new dynamic to your compositions.
RealTracks Set 22: Funk & Pop Bass If you feel your songs need more Funk, or that the bass isn’t Pop enough for you, then
you need RealTracks Set 22: Funk & Pop Bass. With a live musician playing, you can hear the subtle techniques that can’t be
reproduced by a machine! RealTracks Set 22 has a variety of funk styles, including Funk Finger Bass, Funk Slap Bass, and Pop
Bass which suits a wide range of musical styles. Using all electric basses, this set adds another color to your PG Music palate!
RealTracks Set 23: Pop Acoustic Guitar RealTracks Set 23 includes a solid rhythm section of acoustic guitars playing an
even style, whether it be strumming or fingerpicking. These RealTracks can be used for more than just Pop; try adding these
RealTracks to other styles of music and you will be amazed how they blend together! With a wide range of tempos and a variety
of chords you can enter, we’re sure this RealTracks Set will compliment your past, present and future musical projects.
RealTracks Set 24: Pop Swing 8ths Guitar Want to add a Swinging 8ths Pop Guitar sound to your latest composition?
RealTracks Set 24 has the guitars you’ve been looking for! Fill in a rhythm section with this dynamic set of acoustic strumming
and fingerpicking guitar styles. With a wide range of available tempos and the ability to stretch the tempo, RealTracks Set 24
completes your swing 8ths pop or country song with an understated touch!
RealTracks 25: Pop Swing 8ths Bass 1 Have you ever needed a Swinging Pop Bass player to add a delicate touch to your pop
ballad? Do you feel like the MIDI Bass sticks to the 8ths but lacks a human feel? Turn to RealTracks Set 25! With the ability to

Appendix A: RealTracks Sets 381

use these RealTracks with so many styles of music, it’s almost impossible to say which genre they belong to. Turn to
RealTracks Set 25 whenever you need a bass player to stick to the basics and back you up!
RealTracks Set 26: Pop Swing 8ths Bass 2 With RealTracks Set 26 you can add the solid foundation of Swing 8ths Bass to
your Band-in-a-Box or RealBand song. With a wide range of tempos and electric and acoustic basses to choose from, you can
always rely on this RealTracks set to keep perfect timing. And, with the superior stretching features in Band-in-a-Box, all of the
in-between tempos are covered.
RealTracks Set 27: “Dreamy” Pop Guitar and More Evoking a mood just like the moment between consciousness and
dreams, RealTracks Set 27 is another great set of guitar playing for all users. With these simple, tasteful, and dreamy guitar
licks, you can add a new level of atmosphere to your song. These RealTracks styles were recorded at tempos of 85, 120, 165 &
190 beats-per-minute, and with the superior stretching features in Band-in-a-Box and RealBand, all of the tempos in between are
covered too! Whether you’re composing a fast pop masterpiece or a mellow country ballad, these styles are for you!
RealTracks Set 28: Jazz Waltz Would a list of your favorite things include skating in Central Park on a cool winter day?
How about jamming with a swingin’ piano or guitar trio on a summertime evening until the sun rises? Have you ever heard an
acoustic bass with the kind of tone that made you want to tenderly waltz the night away under a star-filled sky? Whatever a
waltz lacks in beats-to-the-bar, RealTracks Set 28 makes up for with a rhythm sweeter than a summer breeze. This Set redefines
what it means to swing in 3/4 time with this collection of Acoustic Bass, Piano, and Electric Guitar RealTracks!
RealTracks 29: Freddie and Wes The drummer has been holding a steady groove with the bass player all night; the joint is
jumping, the dance floor is full and the piano player has more sparkle in his solos than a diamond mine. But something is
missing... If you’re looking for the “four-on-the-floor” beat that’ll keep the dance floor full all night or the sweet intoxication of
a tasteful groove, RealTracks Set 29 is the answer; this cat has six strings, nine lives, ten fingers and some of the sweetest
comping this side of bebop!
RealTracks Set 30: Blues -Slow Swing Have you ever dreamt that you were blowing a lead over a smokin’ hot blues band
while a white-hot bass player held down a rock-solid groove that had to be heard to be believed? This RealTracks Set is what
you need, with 6 RealTracks styles that will make you feel like you’re knee-deep in Mississippi Delta swamp water. The
Electric Guitar, Bass and Resophonic Guitar provide the solid foundation, in a variety of combinations. Then to fill up the band
we also have the soloists: Electric Guitar, Harmonica and a sweet Slide Guitar! And, with the “RealCharts” feature in Band-in-
a-Box, you can see exactly what these pros are playing!
RealTracks Set 31: Blues - Slow Even 8ths In a smoky after-hours bar in New Orleans you find them - your dream band -
and in between bourbons you play some of the best blues you’ve ever played. At least, that’s what it feels like when you jam
with RealTracks Set 31! This set features some straight-8ths, slow rockin’ grooves on the Electric Guitar, Electric Bass,
Harmonica, and even the Resophonic Guitar! Whether you use them all together to have an instant on-call band, or you just use
one of them to round out the sound of your band, these styles are sure to please. All styles in this set were recorded at the same
tempo, so they blend together perfectly, and with the superior stretching features in Band-in-a-Box and RealBand, they can
cover even more ground than that!
RealTracks Set 32: Blues Have you ever dreamt that you were blowing a lead over a smokin’ hot blues band while a white-
hot bass player held down a rock-solid groove that had to be heard to be believed? RealTracks Set 32 has what you need, with a
solid even 8ths rhythm section of Electric Guitar, Electric Bass and Resophonic Guitar. In addition, this Set also comes with
Harmonica, Tenor Sax and Blues Harmonica Soloists so you can have the whole band right at your fingertips. Come on down to
the Delta and visit with the band!
RealTracks Set 33: Bluegrass With the latest offerings in RealTracks Set 33 you will find all you need to play a medium
tempo Bluegrass song. This set of RealTracks is full of awesome features like A and B substyles for the Fiddle and Banjo as
well as RealCharts for the acoustic guitar soloist. As soon as you select these RealTracks and have them play your latest
composition, you will think you’re sitting on the blue grass of Kentucky, listening to a real Bluegrass band play your song.
RealTracks Set 34: Country Train Beat The most amazing feature about RealTracks 34 isn’t it’s solid train rhythm that
won’t miss a beat. It’s how you can use RealCharts to see the notation for all of the instruments. You get RealCharts for Fiddle,
Harmonica, and Pedal Steel so you can see exactly what the top studio musicians are playing. These styles work great with
many of our other RealTracks Sets, including Bluegrass.
RealTracks Set 35: Chet and Travis Pickin’ What’s that sound down the way? That just might be the train a-comin’ to carry
you away. That’s how you’ll feel when you explore RealTracks Set 35: Chet and Travis Pickin’! This Set comes with 4 different
RealTracks styles in this unique genre, two played with that sweet mellow Nylon Guitar, and two played with the warm tones of
the Electric Guitar. There are 4 distinct grooves and tempos, and with the superior stretching features in Band-in-a-Box and
RealBand, the styles can be used at a variety of tempos.
RealTracks Set 36: Swingin’ Country 2 RealTracks Set 36 is like taking a country hayride to a swingin’ western dance hall.
With 5 Swing 8ths RealTracks styles, you’ll be wearing out those dancing shoes in no time! This set features a sweet Pedal Steel
style, as well as two tempos of Resonator Guitar and Swing 8ths Mandolin, medium-slow 120bpm and Fast 190bpm. Whether
you need some gently swinging riffs, or some barn-burning licks, RealTracks Set 36 has what you need.
RealTracks Set 37: Swingin’ Country 3 Get ready to swing! RealTracks Set 37 provides some swinging country licks at a
variety of tempos. With Mandolin, Harmonica, Pedal Steel and Resonator Guitar, playing at tempos ranging from 130 to 190

382 Appendix A: RealTracks Sets

beats-per-minute, you’re sure to find something for your swinging country tune! And, with the fantastic stretching features in
Band-in-a-Box and RealBand, these styles are even more versatile!
RealTracks Set 38: Classic Country With RealTracks Set 38 you’ll be able to start your own Classic Country band! With the
Pedal Steel you get three variations that work at a range of tempos and the Fiddle is always ready to play a solo. You also get
the added bonus of RealCharts which will show you the notation for all of the RealTracks in this set. With RealTracks set 38
added to your collection you will be ready to create a Band-in-a-Box or RealBand song that could have been recorded in
Nashville!
RealTracks Set 39: Slow Country Have you ever written a ballad that you feel is missing something? Try out RealTracks Set
39 and see how a variation of instruments can spark your creativity. Including Pedal Steel, Fiddle, Banjo, Harmonica and
Acoustic Guitar you are sure to find the one brick that is missing from your wall of sound. You also get the added bonus of
RealCharts for Pedal Steel, Harmonica and Fiddle which will allow you to view the notation for these instruments. Get it now
and start playing!
RealTracks Set 40: American Pop-Rock Do you want to hear some of that rootsy contemporary rock that’s making itself
heard all over the world? How about that gritty American sound? We’ve got you covered with RealTracks Set 40: American
Pop-Rock. There are 4 Electric Guitar styles included in this set, and each style includes two different substyles, so the possible
combinations are endless! The two “American” guitar styles are meant to be used together, as are the two “RootsRock” styles,
so either way you get that polished, radio-friendly sound that’ll make you sound like a professional producer. Each style was
recorded by a top session player, and if you’re intention is to learn to play like them, these styles also have the “RealCharts”
feature, which displays the notes being played in notation, on the on-screen guitar fretboard, and on the on-screen piano
keyboard.
RealTracks Set 41: Rockin’ Hard You probably never thought you’d hear some great, hard-rockin’ guitar being made by a
computer, but with RealTracks Set 41, you’ll have all that and more! This set comes with 4 different RealTracks guitar styles,
and each of those styles has 2 different substyles, so you’re sure to get the perfect combination for your song. “Hard Rock
Thrash” and “Hard Rock Thrash Hollow” are two slow hard-rockin’ styles that can be used together, or individually. “Pop Rock
Brit Edgy” and “Pop Rock Brit Heavy” provide that modern British sound that is the current face of the British Invasion. Just
enter the chords to your song, select these styles, and sit back and watch Band-in-a-Box rock!
RealTracks Set 42: Boogie ‘n Texas Rock “Texas Boogie” and “Texas Rock” guitar RealTracks styles. “Texas Boogie”
includes two different guitar styles, intended to be used together if you want a full band effect, or separately if you just need a
touch of that Boogie flavor. “Texas Rock” is the same, with two distinct styles that mesh together beautifully, or can be used
individually.
RealTracks Set 43: Rockin’ Down South Get ready for a trip to the deep south, with RealTracks Set 43: Rockin’ Down
South. This set includes both acoustic and electric rhythm guitar styles, as well as two marvellously raunchy slide guitar styles.
To top it all off, we have a rollicking southern organ. The guitars are all equipped with “RealCharts”, which means that not only
can they play over any chord changes you’d care to throw their way, but you’ll also be able to see exactly what they’re playing,
either in notation, TAB, on the on-screen guitar fretboard, or on the on-screen piano keyboard!
RealTracks Set 44: Blues Guitar and Organ In the old ramshackle roadhouse there’s the grittiest smokin’ blues band you’ve
ever seen, and stuck in the corner making some beautiful tones is the good old B3 Organ. With RealTracks Set 44, you can have
that very sound coming out of your computer! This set includes three different Blues Organ RealTracks styles: “Monday” Swing
8ths at 65bpm, “Roadhouse” Even 8ths at 120bpm, and “BB” Even 8ths at 85bpm. And, with the superior real-time stretching
features in Band-in-a-Box, the styles are not limited to those tempos, but can be used over a wide range, so you’re sure to find
what you need. Also included in this set is a rollicking Slide Guitar Blues RealTracks style. This style also has the added benefit
of “RealCharts” which let you see exactly what’s being played on the on-screen piano keyboard, or in notation.
RealTracks Set 45: Driving British Rock Modern Rock and Pop owe a lot to the original British Invasion, and even though
the sounds are new, they all tip their hats to the Classics. With RealTracks Set 45, you get RealTracks guitar styles that are very
modern and current, but have those timeless elements that have been passed on through generations. All of the guitars included
in this set feature different takes on the same slow driving groove, and can be used together to create a full, produced sound, or
can be used individually to fill in the spaces for your own project. This set includes a strumming acoustic guitar, and two electric
guitars, one that is more “driving” and one that is more “soulful”. With the stretching features in Band-in-a-Box, these styles
cover a wide tempo range, and all three guitars also include “RealCharts” which let you see exactly what notes are being played
in notation, on the piano keyboard, or on the on-screen guitar fretboard!
RealTracks Set 46: Medium Pop - Harmonica, Organ and Bass If your medium-tempo pop tune needs that little something
extra, look no further than RealTracks Set 46. This set provides you with some great background organ & harmonica playing, as
well as two options for straight-ahead pop electric bass. All of these styles can be used in conjunction with previously released
pop RealTracks, such as acoustic or electric guitars, & RealDrums. They can be used with Band-in-a-Box MIDI styles, or they
can give your own tracks more depth and sophistication. The harmonica style provides some great pop licks, but as a
background style it doesn’t get in the way of a singer or the other instruments. The Organ style is a real B3, and will give your
pop song that authentic sound. For electric bass, there are two options. The ‘PopHalfNotesSync’ style plays on the 1, and-of-2,
and the 3, which is one of the most common ways to play pop music. The alternate, ‘PopHalfNotesPush is the same basic
pattern, but doesn’t restate the note on beat 3, driving the song with a pushed feel.

Appendix A: RealTracks Sets 383

RealTracks Set 47: Slow and Fast Pop RealTracks Set 47 gives you what you need to provide that extra little something for
your pop masterpiece. Covering the whole even 8ths tempo spectrum, our B3 Organ styles can provide that growling B3 sound
whether you’ve written a slow ballad, or a rockin’ fast pop tune. And this is no MIDI synth doing it’s best to emulate the sound,
this is a REAL B3, played by a REAL musician. Just enter your chords into Band-in-a-Box, and it’ll piece together a completely
new B3 performance from our audio database, just for you! For the fast tunes, we’ve also got a background Pop Harmonica
style. No matter what chords you throw at it, this harmonica player will follow the changes and provide some great color to your
pop tune.
RealTracks Set 48: Medium Modern Rock Want to get that slick Modern Rock sound on your own personal recordings?
Then look no further than RealTracks Set 48. This set provides three Guitar RealTracks, one acoustic, and two electrics. All
three styles were recorded at the same tempo, and were designed to blend together beautifully, though you certainly can use
them individually. You’re stepping into the producer’s chair when you work with RealTracks, so the only limitation is your
imagination! The acoustic guitar is a bright, strummed rock part. The two electrics have distinct sounds that complement each
other: ‘ElecRockArp’ is a clean guitar tone that plays arpeggios for the A section, then switches to strummed chords for the B
section. ‘ElecRockDirty’ is a distorted guitar tone that plays muted syncopated chords at ‘A’, and then plays with a more open
sound at ‘B’. All three guitars are also equipped with ‘RealCharts’, which means that even though the styles are audio
recordings of real musicians, pieced together by Band-in-a-Box or RealBand based on the chords you enter, the program knows
what notes are being played and is able to display them. With these guitars, that means that you can view them in notation &
TAB, as well as watch the notes go by on the on-screen guitar fretboard. Whether you’re producing your own record, or learning
to play new guitar styles, RealTracks Set 48 is for you!
RealTracks Set 49: Spirited Acoustic Guitar When most people think of Rock music, they think electric guitars, but the
acoustic guitar plays just as important a role. However, you need a player who can really dig in, and that’s where RealTracks Set
49 comes in. There are two Acoustic Guitar styles included with this set, both at slow tempos, but they’re designed to give the
song a harder edge than most ballad playing. Also included in this set are two pop Electric Bass styles, both at 85 beats-per-
minutes. The ‘PopHalfNotesSync’ style plays on the 1, and-of-2, and the 3, which is one of the most common ways to play pop
music. The alternate, ‘PopHalfNotesPush is the same basic pattern, but doesn’t restate the note on beat 3, driving the song with a
pushed feel. All of the styles in this set are also equipped with ‘RealCharts’, which means that even though the styles are audio
recordings of real musicians, pieced together by Band-in-a-Box or RealBand based on the chords you enter, the program knows
what notes are being played and is able to display them. With both the guitars and the bass, that means that you can view them
in notation & TAB, as well as watch the notes go by on the on-screen guitar or bass fretboard.
RealTracks Set 50: More Bossa! Pack your bags for a trip to Brazil with RealTracks Set 50! This set features some great
Bossa Nova Guitar and Flute playing. The styles were all recorded at 140bpm, but with the superior stretching features in Band-
in-a-Box, they can all be used over a wide tempo range. The Nylon-Electric Rhythm Guitar style provides a great backing track
for any chord progression, and is an excellent tool for singers or soloists. The Flute and Electric Guitar Soloist RealTracks can
provide fantastic melodic soloing over any changes, and the solo created by Band-in-a-Box will be different every time you
press play!
RealTracks Set 51: Slow Bossas and More With RealTracks Set 51, you can choose either the smooth sounds of acoustic
bass and piano playing slow gentle bossas, or the fast excitement of some boogying tenor sax. All you have to do is enter any
chord progression into Band-in-a-Box or RealBand, and then you decide whether you want mellow or manic! The bass and
piano, when used in conjunction with our BossaBrushes RealDrums, provide a great rhythm section for singers or soloists. And
then, if you want to either study or just listen to a great rockin’ sax solo, you can load in one of our faster styles, and this
RealTracks soloist will nail it! Both the piano and the sax are also equipped with ‘RealCharts’ meaning Band-in-a-Box can
display the notes you’re hearing on the on-screen piano keyboard and in notation.
RealTracks Set 52: Fast Samba You won’t be able to stop your booty from shaking when you hear RealTracks Set 52: Fast
Samba! This RealTracks set provides you with some smokin’ fast latin sounds. It includes the essential rhythm section
instruments, bass and piano, as well as a soprano sax soloist. No matter what chords you enter in Band-in-a-Box, these styles
will soar! The piano and sax are also equipped with ‘RealCharts’. This means that even though the sounds you hear are real
instruments played by real musicians, intelligently pieced together by Band-in-a-Box based on the chords you enter, the
program also knows the exact notes that are being played, and is able to display them. You can view the notes in notation or on
the on-screen piano keyboard. The piano has the added bonus of correctly placing left-hand notes in the bass clef, and on the
piano window, the left-hand notes appear in a different color.
RealTracks Set 53: Slow Jazz Ballad - Rhythm Section The pros know that the hardest thing to play is slow! When you’re
playing slow ballads, you have to make every note count, which is what makes RealTracks Set 53 such a useful tool for every
musician. This set includes both Piano and Acoustic Bass playing at 60 beats-per-minute, and because of the superior stretching
features in Band-in-a-Box and RealBand, they can actually be used over a wide range of tempos. Not only do both instruments
play at 60 beats per minute, but there are also several variations where they start playing double-time (essentially a 120 bpm
groove) for the B section. This is a very common technique in jazz, so you’ll be able to master your ballad playing no matter
what your band throws at you!
RealTracks Set 54: Slow Jazz Ballad There’s nothing in the world that can calm the soul like the mellow sound of a tenor sax
lazily navigating it’s way through a cool jazz ballad. With RealTracks Set 54, you can have that right now at your fingertips! In
addition to the Slow (60bpm) Ballad Tenor Sax RealTracks, this set also includes the Jazz Ballad Electric Guitar Soloist, at a

384 Appendix A: RealTracks Sets

slightly quicker pace (85bpm), and a “Solo-Accompaniment” Jazz Ballad Piano (85bpm). This piano style is intended to be used
without Bass or Drums, essentially it’s a rhythm section all on it’s own. All three of the RealTracks styles in this set are equiped
with “RealCharts”, which allow you to see the notes being played in notation, or on the on-screen piano keyboard. The Guitar
also has the added bonus of “Guitar RealCharts” which also include TAB and the on-screen guitar fretboard, which also show
you the specific strings that the notes were played on.
RealTracks Set 55: Fast Bebop Jazz Get ready for some smokin’ hot BeBop! RealTracks Set 55 gives you the tools you need
to start hearing some lightning fast jazz coming out of your computer speakers. Simply enter any chords you like, select these
BeBop styles, and Band-in-a-Box will generate flawless Acoustic Bass, Piano and Tenor Sax tracks for you. And even though
it’s generated by the computer, it was REAL top studio musicians who played it originally, so that’s who you’ll be hearing
playing your song now! If you’re a singer or a soloist, you can use the Acoustic Bass and Piano styles to provide a great rhythm
section for you to sing or blow over, and you can generate a Tenor Sax solo with the soloist to study, or just to enjoy the fine
sounds. The Piano and Sax are also equipped with ‘RealCharts’ which show you the notes that are being played either in
notation or on the on-screen piano keyboard, making studying their playing even easier, and the Sax display can be transposed a
whole tone so it appears correctly in Bb notation.
RealTracks Set 56: Jazz, Old and New RealTracks Set 56 has something for every jazz fan, whether you’re a traditionalist or
a fan of the modern sound. This set includes 4 different RealTracks styles, including “modern jazz” versions of Acoustic Bass
and Acoustic Piano playing at a medium-swing tempo. These two styles together form the perfect rhythm section for soloing,
and provide great inspiration for developing sophisticated lines. The set also includes 2 soloists, the classic “older swing”
clarinet style, and the intricate electric guitar jazz swing soloist. The piano and the clarinet have “RealCharts” available, which
means you can see exactly what is being played on the on-screen piano keyboard or in notation, and the guitar has the bonus
feature of being able to display correct TAB, and display on the on-screen guitar fretboard.
RealTracks Set 57: Jazz Swing, Laid Back We dare you to keep your toes from tapping or your fingers from snapping when
you listen to the cool swing from RealTracks Set 57: Jazz Swing, Laid Back. This set features both the essential rhythm section
instruments and the soprano sax soloist for that sweet slow-medium groove that sits perfectly in the pocket. The rhythm section
is comprised of double bass and piano, and both styles include both an ‘A’ section and a ‘B’ section, so you can add further
dynamic range to your jazz tune. The soprano sax blows beautifully over any changes you care to throw its way, and both the
sax and the piano are equipped with ‘RealCharts’ which allow you to see the notes that are being played, both in notation and on
the on-screen piano keyboard.
RealTracks Set 58: Jazz and Pop Waltzes No matter what the style of music you listen to, the waltz is almost certainly sure
to be found in it’s midst. With RealTracks Set 58, we provide both Jazz and Pop Waltz styles. On the Jazz front, a Tenor Sax
soloist is included, which can be used with some of our previously released Jazz Waltz rhythm section instruments. Simply enter
any chords and this Sax will easily be able to blow over the changes. For the Pop fans, we’ve provided Acoustic Bass and Piano
styles playing a slow even 8ths Pop Waltz, so if you’re a singer or soloist, you’ll have a solid rhythm section backing you up.
Both the Piano and the Sax come equipped with ‘RealCharts’, which means that even though the sounds you hear are actual
musicians playing actual instruments, Band-in-a-Box knows what notes are being played and is able to display them in notation
or on the on-screen piano keyboard. The piano has the added benefit of correct placement of left-hand notes in the bass clef, and
on the on-screen piano, left-hand notes are displayed in red, making it even easier to study and learn the parts.
RealTracks Set 59: Crossover One of the things you hear a lot on the radio today is that swing 16ths Crossover between
Country Music and Hip Hop, and with RealTracks Set 59, we give you the tools you need to recreate that sound at home. This
set provides you with a total of 5 RealTracks styles, one bass style and four guitar styles. They were recorded at 75 & 90 beats-
per-minute, and with the stretching features in Band-in-a-Box, the tempos in between and beyond are covered as well. All of the
styles also include ‘RealCharts’, which means that even though you’re listening to REAL instruments played by REAL
musicians, Band-in-a-Box knows what notes are being played and can display them either in notation, or on the on-screen guitar
fretboard. The three styles recorded at 90bpm include a snappy acoustic guitar, a clean electric guitar, and an additional electric
playing ‘chops’. At 75bpm, we have a grooving electric guitar and a solid electric bass style.
RealTracks Set 60: Country Rock! These days the line between Country and Rock is blurring, and the best of both worlds
are joining forces! With RealTracks Set 60, we give you taste of this marvellous merge in the form of 4 new guitar styles.
‘ModernCountrySync’ is an even-16ths-based groove, and we provide both an Acoustic and an Electric Guitar style. The
‘SouthernSnappy’ is a classic sounding Country-Rock groove, also 16ths-based, and for this groove we provide two Electric
Guitars, ‘Clean’ and ‘Gritty’. All four styles have ‘RealCharts’ available, which means that even though you’re listening to
REAL instruments played by REAL musicians, Band-in-a-Box knows what notes are being played and can display them either
in notation, or on the on-screen guitar fretboard.
RealTracks Set 61: Ballads and More! An assortment of Pop and Country Ballad styles with two rhythm electric guitar
styles, a hard-edged ballad soloist, and a solo-accompaniment pop piano style. The two rhythm guitars are meant to be used
together, but have very distinct sounds. One is a clean guitar tone, playing choppy chords for the A section and held chords for
the B section, and the other is a distorted guitar style, playing a syncopated groove at ‘A’, and straightening out to even quarter
notes at ‘B’. The soloist is a driving distorted power ballad, and is great for intros or breaks. Finally, we include a ‘solo-
accompaniment’ piano pop-ballad style.
RealTracks Set 62: Western Swing and Bluegrass! Three Western Swing electric guitar styles include rhythm playing at the
medium-fast tempo of 165bpm, and an up-tempo style at 190bpm. Also at 190 is the “CountryClassicSwing” Soloist, which will

Appendix A: RealTracks Sets 385

create a solo over any changes you care to throw it’s way. As a bonus, this set also includes a Bluegrass Mandolin Soloist,
playing at the laid-back (for Bluegrass) tempo of 100.
RealTracks Set 63: Country Waltz 1 Take a trip to Tennessee, with RealTracks Set 63, Country Waltz 1! This Set provides 4
Acoustic Guitar styles, playing at two waltz tempos, 85 & 140. With the stretching features in Band-in-a-Box and RealBand,
these styles actually cover a wide range of tempos. Each tempo has a Fingerpicking and a Strumming Acoustic Guitar, and the
styles work great together, or they can be used individually, whatever your needs happen to be. All 4 styles also include
‘RealCharts’ which display the notes being played in notation, TAB, and on the on-screen guitar fretboard, so you can really
study what the players are doing.
RealTracks Set 64: Country Waltz 2 With RealTracks Set 64, we continue with that sweet three-quarter time! This set comes
with three Guitar styles, all recorded at the comfortable tempo of 110, and a Solo-Accompaniment Waltz Piano style at a bouncy
swinging tempo of 85. The guitar styles include strumming acoustic, fingerpicking acoustic, and electric, and are designed to
blend nicely together when all three are used, but you can make any combination you need easily in Band-in-a-Box. All styles in
this set come equipped with ‘RealCharts’ which display the notes you’re hearing on-screen. The guitars additionally have TAB
as well as a guitar fretboard display, and the piano has the bonus feature of correct hand splitting in the treble and bass clefs, and
on the on-screen piano keyboard left-hand notes are displayed in red.
RealTracks Set 65: Alt-Country Alt-Country, also known as Americana, is fast becoming one of the most popular styles in
the world, and with RealTracks Set 65, we give you a taste of this with 4 Electric Guitar styles. For the very slow tempos, we
have a distorted electric guitar providing a gritty backdrop to your melancholy ballad. For ballads a little bit quicker, we have a
brighter clean electric guitar style. We then have two Alt-Country styles recorded at 75bpm, which are intended to be used
together, as they play off of each other beautifully. One is a moody sounding electric, while the other is more rootsy. All four
styles have both an A section and a B section, so your song will have the dynamic shifts it needs, and all styles also have
‘RealCharts’, so you’ll be able to see exactly what the guitarist is doing in notation, as well as on the on-screen guitar fretboard.
RealTracks Set 66: Modern Nashville Pop Nashville is the place to be for that modern pop-country sound! And with
RealTracks Set 66, we bring you 4 Electric Guitar styles straight from Music City, USA. All of these styles were recorded at the
common medium-pop tempo of 120bpm, but with the sophisticated stretching features in Band-in-a-Box, they all cover a wide
tempo range. The two ‘CountryRock’ styles are intended to be used together, and play off each other beautifully, but can also be
used individually, whatever you need. The same goes for the two ‘NashvillePop’ styles, one of which uses a distorted guitar
sound, the other clean. All four styles have ‘RealCharts’ available, which means that even though you’re listening to REAL
instruments played by REAL musicians, Band-in-a-Box knows what notes are being played and can display them either in
notation & TAB, or on the on-screen guitar fretboard.
RealTracks Set 67: Rockin’ in 3/4 Time When hear the word “waltz”, you don’t often think of hard rockin’ guitars, but 3:4
(or 6:8) time has become an important part of the hard rock world. With RealTracks Set 67, you get 10 different Rock and Pop
3:4 styles. These styles can be used individually, or together to create a full background to your waltz song. They can also be
combined in A-B combinations, to give your song the dynamic shaping it needs. Also included for the first time are 12-string
acoustic guitar RealTracks, both a picking style, and a strumming style.
RealTracks Set 68: R&B Rock RealTracks Set 68 provides 4 different modern R&B Electric guitars, which can be used
together or individually, whatever your song needs! It includes two guitars with a warm mellow tone, one playing basic quarter
notes with embellishment, the other playing a strumming pattern. Then, we have some funkier guitar styles, one playing an off-
beat pattern, the other playing a 16th-note-based groove. And, all of these styles have RealCharts capabilities, so you can see
exactly what’s being played, either on the on-screen guitar fretboard, or in notation and TAB.
RealTracks Set 69: Rockin’ in the North, Rockin’ in the South RealTracks Set 69 takes you all over the continent with a
Northern Rock sound, as well as a classic 80s Texas Blues-Rock groove. Included are 8 different guitar styles playing many
variations on these grooves, including quarter-note variations, strummed patterns, offbeat & syncopated grooves. And a variety
of guitar tones are employed in this set, including a mellow fuzz guitar tone, an edgy, gritty guitar sound, and different registers
of that Texas Rock ‘n Roll sound. All styles are equipped with RealCharts, so you can see the notes you’re hearing either in
TAB, notation, or on the on-screen guitar fretboard.
RealTracks Set 70: Piano Pop If you want some sophisticated, mellow piano for your pop masterpiece, go no further than
RealTracks Set 70: Piano Pop. This set features 7 different Piano RealTracks styles, intended to be used by themselves, with no
bass or drums, though they certainly can be used with a rhythm section as well. Travel to England with our PopLiverpool and
PopLondon styles, check out New York with our PopBronx style, or travel down south with PopFunkyTexas. And of course all
of these styles are equipped with RealCharts, so not only will you be hearing beautiful Real Piano, you’ll be see it go by in
notation and on our on-screen piano keyboard.
RealTracks Set 71: Folk-Rock Check out some of our brand new 12-String Acoustic Guitar RealTracks with RealTracks Set
71: Folk Rock! It includes a variety of tempos and feels, such as slow ballad folk-rock & medium folk-rock waltz. For the waltz,
it comes with both a 12-string and a 6-string guitar style, which can be used individually, or blended together for a full, lush
sound.
RealTracks Set 72: Smooth Jazz - Swing 16ths Hip Hop Looking for that sweet Smooth Jazz sound with a tinge of Urban
flavor? Look no further than RealTracks Set 72! This set features 4 RealTracks styles, with classic Real Electric Piano and
Electric Bass, at two Hip-Hop swing 16ths tempos. The Electric Piano styles can be used either completely dry, with no effects

386 Appendix A: RealTracks Sets

at all, or with authentic effects for that true Smooth Jazz sound: chorus, delay, and reverb. The dry sound is perfect if you’d like
to use these styles in a Rock setting, or if you’d like to add your own effects in RealBand.
RealTracks Set 73: Smooth Jazz - Ballad and Pop More classic Smooth Jazz with Electric Bass styles as well as classic Real
Electric Piano, both “dry” and with authentic Smooth Jazz effects. Both instruments include both a slow Ballad, and a faster
even-16th-based Poppy Smooth Jazz groove. These styles are ideal to use with RealDrums Set 28 but can also be used with
many of our other even 8th and even 16th Jazz RealDrums.
RealTracks Set 74: Ballroom Latin Ballroom Latin made for dancing with 7 styles featuring both Acoustic Bass and Piano.
Practice your musical chops, your dancing chops, or both! A perfect match with RealDrums Set 5: Latin.
RealTracks Set 75: More Bossa Acoustic Bass, Electric Guitar and Piano playing a sultry medium-slow Bossa tempo. The
guitar features a “FreeComp” version, with the guitar as the sole comping instrument, and a “GrooveComp” version, which is
intended to work well while there is a piano comping at the same time. Both piano and guitars have RealCharts for on-screen
notation and TAB plus piano keyboard and guitar fretboard displays.
RealTracks Set 76: More Jazz Waltz Jazz Waltzes, with Piano, Guitar, and Acoustic Bass styles. Included are two tempos: a
slow waltz ballad at 85 bpm, and a medium-slow laid-back waltz at 110 bpm. All three instruments are represented at both
tempos, and in addition, there is a rehearsal piano waltz style. This style is a basic piano approach to the swing waltz and is
intended to be used by itself to back up a singer or soloist.
RealTracks Set 77: Ballad, Stride & More Jazz with both electric and acoustic guitars at a variety of tempos, as well as 4
different accompaniment piano styles. The slow Jazz Ballad tempo has a free-rhythm Electric Guitar style, an Acoustic Guitar
that is designed to work well with a comping piano, and a Stride Jazz Ballad piano. Also included is a slightly quicker Stride
Ballad, as well as a “Rehearsal” Piano style that’s great if you need a basic piano approach to back up your singing or soloing.
All instruments in this set are equipped with RealCharts for on-screen notation and TAB plus piano keyboard and guitar
fretboard displays.
RealTracks Set 78: Memphis Swing Memphis Swing gives you 4 different RealTracks styles with 4 different approaches to
this distinct version of Country Swing. Two of the styles use a crisp, clean guitar tone, one playing chords letting the notes ring,
the other with a shorter staccato approach. Then we have a guitar with a grittier tone, played either with a palm-mute effect, or
with a wide-open approach.
RealTracks Set 79: Medium Country Boogie This set features 6 medium tempo Country Boogie guitar RealTracks including
2 acoustic guitars and 4 electrics. With acoustic guitar, you can choose between a palm-mute style of playing, or a more open
approach, or you can mix-and-match, using one style for the A section of your song, and the other for the B section. You have
lots to choose from with the Electrics too, with both clean and distorted guitars, playing syncopated patterns, classic riffs, palm-
mute, and twangy variations. All of these styles are equipped with RealCharts, so you can see exactly what’s being played by
these world-class studio musicians!
RealTracks Set 80: Fast Country Boogie This set features 6 up-tempo Country Boogie guitar RealTracks including 2
acoustic guitars and 4 electrics. With Acoustic Guitar, you can choose between a palm-mute style of playing, or a more open
approach, or you can mix-and-match, using one style for the A section of your song, and the other for the B section. You have
lots to choose from with the Electrics too, with both clean and distorted guitars playing syncopated patterns, classic riffs, palm-
mute, and twangy variations. All of these styles are equipped with “RealCharts,” so you can see exactly what’s being played by
these world-class studio musicians!
RealTracks Set 81: More Country Swing RealTracks Set 81 adds 8 Country Swing electric guitar styles featuring both clean
and “gritty” guitar sounds, played over both slow swing at 85bpm, and medium-up-tempo at 140bpm. The different variations
can be used individually, or together, and they can also be used in various A-B combinations. All of these guitar styles are
equipped with RealCharts, so you will see exactly what is being played by these top Nashville studio musicians!
RealTracks Set 82: More Country Waltz 10 new electric guitar Country Waltz styles covering a range of tempos from
85bpm through to 140bpm with both clean guitars and distorted guitars. You can mix and match styles, either using multiple
styles at the same time, or A-B combinations. And all of these guitars are equipped with RealCharts and display notation, TAB,
and on-screen guitar fretboard.
RealTracks Set 83: LA Hard Rock This set provides you with 4 distinct Electric Guitar styles, 2 with a “crisp” tone, and 2
with a “fuzzy” tone, so you’re sure to find what you need for your song or section. Also included is the HardRockLA Bass style,
a syncopated bass style with a big fat tone. As a bonus, we’re also throwing in the HardRockLA RealDrums style! This style
has 5 different substyle options, combined together for a total of 8 different style variations. Each substyle was recorded at 3
different tempos, and with the superior stretching features in Band-in-a-Box, the entire tempo spectrum in between tempos is
also covered.
RealTracks Set 84: Lite Pop This set features 12-string Acoustic Guitar RealTracks styles as well as 3 Pop Piano styles. The
12-string Acoustic Guitar provides a beautifully full sound which works great on its own, or in the context of a full band. There
are two of these styles, one picking, and the other strumming, both at a slow ballad tempo. Additionally, we also include a style
that uses the picking for the “a” section of your song and strumming for the “b” section. The 3 Pop Piano styles continue our
collection of solo-accompaniment piano styles. Two of the styles embody the melodic California sound, one a slow ballad, the
other an upbeat energetic style. The third style is a flowing melodically arpeggiated style.

Appendix A: RealTracks Sets 387

RealTracks Set 85: Rockin’ Bass This set features two classic Brit-Rock basses, a heavily scooped and distorted thrash bass,
and a deep rockin’ bass that turns out pulsing eighth notes. You can view tab and notation for every style in this set in Band-in-
a-Box or RealBand. The wide range of tempos ensures that you will have a rockin’ bass for every occasion.
RealTracks Set 86: Blues Rock Three unique and driving guitar styles are included: two with a crisp, unrelenting single-coil
tone (which can be linked together as an A/B substyle) and one with a low, twangy fuzz tone. Also included is a dark-toned
blues rock bass that syncs up nicely to the guitar styles. All of these styles are equipped with RealCharts, which means that even
though you’re listening to actual audio recordings of real musicians, you can see the notes they’re playing on the on-screen
fretboards, in TAB, in standard notation, and on the on-screen piano keyboard. Our unique stretch methods ensure that you’re
covered for a range of tempos and all twelve keys.
RealTracks Set 87: Electric for All Occasions This set offers an extensive selection of bright guitar sounds for all occasions.
At each of the three tempos, we provide you with both clean and slightly distorted guitar tones. Plus, you also have control over
the particular texture of the guitars. All of the styles were recorded with both open chords, if you want a brighter sound, and
barre chords, if you want a slightly more muted effect. All styles play any chord in any key, and our stretch methods ensure that
all in-between tempos are covered! All of these styles also come complete with notation and tablature.
RealTracks Set 88: 12-String Electric RealTracks Set 88 offers some unique, clean 12-string electric guitar tones. The styles
are split into two main categories: strumming and fingerpicking. The strumming styles offer a silky, sustained, solid rhythm
while the fingerpicking styles deliver an open and bright feel that fills in the eighth notes. Both the strumming and fingerpicking
styles were recorded at multiple tempos ranging from slow ballad to up-tempo pop, and with the superior stretching features in
Band-in-a-Box and RealBand, all the tempos in between are covered too! Notation and tablature are also included for all of your
scoring and learning needs.
RealTracks Set 89: Northern Rock Ballad RealTracks Set 89 provides Acoustic Guitar, High-Strung Acoustic, Banjo &
Electric Bass. Both guitar styles feature open chords with traditional folk strumming patterns. These two guitars used together
provide a full, rich sound by covering the full sonic spectrum. In addition, both guitars and the electric bass are equipped with
RealCharts, which means not only are you getting real instruments played by real musicians, but you can see what they’re
playing in notation, TAB, and on the on-screen guitar/bass fretboards. The banjo is a nicely subtle, understated fingerpicking
style that blends perfectly with the other instruments.
RealTracks Set 90: Jazz Organ A collection of Jazz B3 organ styles from slow, laid-back ballads to energetic up-tempo
swing and bebop. The style provides both comping and killer bass lines which play “in-2” for the A sections and walk for the B
sections. There are 5 separate styles recorded over the range of tempos from 60 to 190 beats-per-minute. And, with the superior
stretching features in Band-in-a-Box, all styles in between are automatically covered as well!
RealTracks Set 91: Smooth Jazz - Sax Soloing Five new additions to your Smooth Jazz RealTracks collection: three alto
saxes, a soprano, and a tenor. All of these styles show tasteful contrast with soothing melodies intertwined with fast jazz runs
and phrases. This set also covers three avenues of smooth jazz: cool, poppy, and ballad. It offers a wide range of tempos ranging
from dramatically slow to moderately fast. The inclusion of RealCharts means that not only will you be hearing Real Saxophone
played by a top studio musician, but you will be able to see exactly what’s being played in both notation and on the on-screen
piano keyboard.
RealTracks Set 92: Smooth Jazz - Trumpet Soloing This set features four different soloists in the subgenres of cool, poppy,
and ballad. The cool Jazz styles have a funky swung sixteenth note feel while the down-tempo poppy and ballad styles rely on
even spacing and tasteful phrasing. You will have a variety of tempos and all twelve keys at your fingertips thanks to the
stretching methods used by Band-in-a-Box and RealBand, and with our RealCharts you will be able to see what’s being played,
in both notation and on the on-screen piano keyboard.
RealTracks Set 93: Smooth Jazz - Trumpet Soloing RealTracks Set 93 adds more Rhythm & Soul to our collection of
Smooth Jazz RealTracks styles! This set includes two electric piano soloist styles and two rhythm guitar styles all together. Both
split up into two subgenres: a funky swung sixteenth feel and a slow even sixteenth ballad feel. And, the two electric piano
styles provide you with even more options, as each one has three different effects sets: Chorus with delay effect, chorus alone,
and completely dry. If you want the slick Smooth Jazz sound, go for the chorus & delay, but if you want the unadulterated sound
of the real vintage electric piano, go for the dry. All four styles are also equipped with RealCharts which allow you to see the
notes that are being played in notation and on the on-screen piano keyboard, and the guitars have the added benefit of correctly
displaying TAB & the notes on the on-screen guitar fretboard.
RealTracks Set 94: Jazz Guitar Soloing and More This set includes 4 electric guitar styles, ranging from medium-slow
tempos up to fast bebop tempos, in both jazz waltz meters, as well as straight ahead 4:4 swing. In addition, there’s an energetic
samba soloist played on nylon guitar, and two solo accompaniment piano styles! These real pianos offer a fun and energetic feel
and are the perfect companion to a show tunes singer. Every single style in this set is equipped with RealCharts, which means
not only will you be hearing great real audio recordings of real musicians, but you will be able to SEE what they’re playing too,
in notation, and on the on-screen piano keyboard. The electric guitars have the added bonus of displaying correctly in TAB and
on the on-screen guitar fretboard.
RealTracks Set 95: Jazz Rhythm Guitar: Bossa and Swing Included are four electric guitar styles that cover a large range of
tempos, as well as two bossa styles, and a fast “Freddie” Acoustic Guitar. The Electrics are split into “FreeComp” and
“GrooveComp” styles. The FreeComp styles are intended to be the sole comping instrument (no piano) featuring sophisticated

388 Appendix A: RealTracks Sets

rhythms and harmonies. The GrooveComp styles use more repetitive rhythms and more basic harmonies so that they can be
used with other comping instruments such as piano or organ without getting in the way. The Bossa Guitars have a warm nylon
tone, and were recorded at the tempos of 85 & 140, and with the superior stretching features in Band-in-a-Box, all of the tempos
in between are also covered. The electric & acoustic guitars are also equipped with RealCharts which means that not only are
you hearing actual audio performances by actual musicians, you can also see what they’re playing in notation, TAB, and on the
on-screen guitar fretboard.
RealTracks Set 96: Modern Bluegrass Waltz This set includes a total of six new waltz styles on five different instruments!
You will receive two acoustic guitars (one fingerpicking, one strumming), acoustic bass, fiddle, mandolin, and banjo. Every one
of these styles covers all twelve keys, and covers a wide tempo range thanks to the high quality stretching features in Band-in-a-
Box and RealBand.
RealTracks Set 97: Unplugged Country Swing There are four country swing fiddle styles included, three of which feature
melodic background playing over the tempo spectrum of 85 bpm ballads to the sprightly tempo of 140. Since they were
recorded at intervals, the entire tempo range is covered, since Band-in-a-Box’s superior stretching features can use those three
tempos to cover all of the tempos in between. At 140, you also have the option of choosing the “chops” style, where the fiddle
plays very short chordal shots on beats 2 & 4. This is a style that would generally only be used on faster tempo tunes. All of
these styles also feature RealCharts which means that not only are you hearing audio recordings of top studio musicians playing
your song, you can SEE what they’re playing too, in notation & on the on-screen piano keyboard!
RealTracks Set 98: Unplugged, 12-String & Fiddle Three strummed acoustic 12-string guitar styles and two country boogie
fiddle styles, all recorded over a wide tempo range. And with the superior stretching features in Band-in-a-Box, all the tempos in
between are also covered. The 12-string styles were recorded at 85, 120 & 165 beats-per-minute, so if you’re song is at 95, no
problem, you’re covered with 85, which Band-in-a-Box can easily stretch up. Or, if you need 12-string at 160, no problem, the
165 bpm style can easily stretch down to cover that too! RealCharts are included with all 5 styles here, which means that not
only do you get real audio recordings of top studio musicians playing your songs, you can see what they’re doing in notation, on
the on-screen piano keyboard, and for the guitars you can also view the notes in TAB and on the on-screen guitar-fretboard. And
all keys are covered, so if you want to boogie down in C sharp, no problem!
RealTracks Set 99: More Country Waltz: Pedal Steel, Bass & Fiddle Three bass styles offer a solid, rhythmic foundation
over a wide tempo range, two fiddles offer a variety of melodic ideas, and two pedal steels offer rich layers of harmonies. That’s
a total of seven new styles, all of them crucial to your Country Waltz songs! In conjunction with previously release Country
Waltz styles, it’s easy to put together a full band at any tempo. All styles play in any key, and the pedal steel & fiddle styles
have RealCharts.
RealTracks Set 100: More Western Swing: Pedal Steel & Electric Guitar RealTracks Set 100 includes 4 new electric
guitar styles that can be used in conjunction with our previously release Western Swing styles. The styles were recorded at 2
tempos, 165 and 190, with basic comping patterns at both tempos; a “picked” style at the slower tempo, and a “held” style at the
faster tempo. Plus, we add to our increasing collection of Pedal Steel styles at both of these tempos as well. These swinging
styles use the classic Western Swing C6 tuning. And you’re not limited to 165 or 190, all tempos in between are also covered
with the superior stretching features in Band-in-a-Box.
RealTracks Set 101: Folk and Country Swing This library of country and folk crossover styles delivers a large collection on
a variety of instruments. Included are Ukulele, Acoustic Bass Guitar, Electric Guitar, and Fiddle styles. The Ukulele and
Acoustic Bass Guitars work well as playful duos: a moderate tempo acoustic-bass guitar and ukulele duo with a country feel
and a faster tempo acoustic-bass guitar and ukulele duo with a cheerful island feel. The “Memphis” fiddle adds to our existing
Electric Guitar styles, and the two Country Swing electric guitar styles can be used independently, or together as an A-B style.
The fiddle and guitar have the added bonus of having RealCharts enabled, which allows you to view the notes being played in
notation, on the on-screen piano keyboard, and on an on-screen guitar-fretboard.
RealTracks Set 102: Uptempo Reggae This set includes Electric Bass, Electric Guitar, B3 Organ, Acoustic Piano, and a brand-
new Reggae Classic RealDrums style. With all the styles used together, you will be constantly immersed in B3 Organ, Guitar
strumming out the rhythm, Piano shots on the off-beats, and a booming Bass holds it all together. Each style was recorded at
100 bpm so they sound very natural together, though with the superior stretching features in Band-in-a-Box, all styles cover a
wide tempo spectrum.
RealTracks Set 103: Slow Groovin’ Reggae Electric Bass, Electric Guitar, B3 Organ, Acoustic Piano, and a brand-new Reggae
Classic Tambo RealDrums style. While the Bass and Drums maintain a laid-back syncopated rhythm at 75 bpm, the Guitar and
Piano play chord shots on 2 and 4, and the jammin’ B3 Organ fills in on 3. The “RealCharts” allow you to see exactly what’s
being played on the piano, guitar & bass in notation, and on the on-screen piano keyboard. The bass & guitar have the added
benefit of displaying correctly in TAB and on the on-screen guitar/bass fretboards.
RealTracks Set 104: Celtic Jigs & Reels This set includes 2 basic Celtic grooves played on a variety of instruments, including
Acoustic Bass, Acoustic Guitar, and Piano. Plus, this set comes with the added bonus of two new RealDrums styles feature the
Bodhran. This is a traditional Celtic drum played with a wooden mallet. And these Bodhran styles each have several variations,
including the standard wooden mallet as well as a variety of brush mallets for a slightly softer tone. The Guitars and Pianos are
also equipped with “RealCharts,” which means that you can see the notes that are played in notation, TAB, and on the on-screen
piano keyboard or guitar fretboard.

Appendix A: RealTracks Sets 389

RealTracks Set 105: Brent Mason Rock Soloing This set includes three Electric Guitar Rock soloing styles played by the
award-winning session guitarist, Brent Mason. Brent’s punchy, burning lead sound will rock the house ‘til dawn. Plus, these
styles have the added bonus of “RealCharts,” allowing you to see what Brent’s playing in notation, TAB, and on the onscreen
guitar fretboard. The guitar fretboard also displays any notes that are bent in blue, for added educational value.
RealTracks Set 106: Calypso Pop Along with Electric Bass and Accordion, this set includes three types of guitar: Acoustic,
Electric, and High-Strung Acoustic. The high-strung guitar is great to use with the standard-tuning acoustic, as together they fill
out the full sonic spectrum. Also joining the band is a brand-new Pop Calypso RealDrums style. Soft-strumming Guitars, simple
Bass lines, and flowing Accordion.
RealTracks Set 107: Medium Pop Waltz This set includes a whole assortment of strings: Electric Bass, Fiddle, Acoustic Guitars,
Electric Guitars, Mandolin, Pedal Steel, and Acoustic Piano. Also joining the group is a brand-new Pop-Rock Waltz RealDrums
style. The Electric Guitar plays alternate substyles to add dynamic range to your song. Each style plays an even 8ths groove at
120 bpm, but with the superior stretching features in Band-in-a-Box, this actually covers a wide tempo spectrum (110-140).
Plus, with the new triple-time feature in Band-in-a-Box these styles can be used in even more ways.
RealTracks Set 108: More Rockin’ Bass This set is all Electric Bass: Hard Rock Waltz, Pop Rock Waltz, Modern R’n’B Rock,
and Northern Rock. These styles cover a wide range of tempos from 65 bpm to 140 bpm, and blend beautifully with our
previously released RealDrums and Guitar RealTracks. All 4 styles also display “RealCharts” which means you can see what
you’re hearing in notation, bass TAB, and on the on-screen bass fretboard.
RealTracks Set 109: Gypsy Jazz Everything you need for some hot, up-tempo Gypsy Jazz. This set includes Acoustic Bass,
Acoustic Guitars, Fiddle, and a brand-new Gypsy Jazz Swing RealDrums style. There are 2 different Rhythm Acoustic Guitar
styles that are meant to be used together to provide a full, authentic Gypsy Jazz sound, and then there are two more Acoustic
Guitar Soloist styles, played by two different top session players, plus a hot fiddle soloist! The guitars and fiddles have the
added bonus of displaying “RealCharts” which means you can see the notes you’re hearing blaze past in notation, TAB, or on
the on-screen fretboard display.
RealTracks Set 110: Gypsy Jazz RealTracks Set 110 includes Acoustic Bass, Acoustic Guitars, Fiddle, and a brand-new Gypsy
Jazz Swing RealDrums style. Whether you need some laid-back comping Nylon Guitar, a lovely Fiddle or Guitar solo, or a
melodic Acoustic Bass, each of these styles offers a lot. To add variation throughout your songs, the Bass plays “in-2” for the A
section and switches to “walking” at B. The RealDrums also follow the changes at part markers. Each style plays at a relaxing
tempo of 110 bpm (though this covers a wide tempo range with the superior stretching features in Band-in-a-Box) and is made
to play smoothly over Gypsy Jazz progressions which include 6th, m6, and diminished chords.
RealTracks Set 111: Jazz Vibes This set includes five different Comping Vibes styles played by the world-class Jazz
Vibraphonist Steve Nelson. It includes both even 8ths Bossas & Jazz Swing, covering a range of tempos from 60 bpm to 140
bpm.
RealTracks Set 112: Jazz Vibes Steve Nelson steps in to plays smokin’ vibes solos. This set includes three Jazz Swing soloists
covering a range of tempos from 60 bpm to 140 bpm. With the superior stretching features in Band-in-a-Box, all tempos in-
between are taken care of! The set also includes a Bossa soloist at 140 bpm, which can also work over a wide tempo spectrum.
In addition, all of these styles are equipped with “RealCharts,” which means that even though these are actual audio recordings
of Steve Nelson, you can see what he’s playing in notation or on the on-screen piano keyboard.
RealTracks Set 113: Smooth Jazz Cool swing 16th soloing on both Electric Piano & Electric Guitar, and also includes a rhythm
guitar style. This set works in perfect combination with the rhythm section styles from RealTracks Set 72. With the Electric
Piano you have a choice of chorus effect, delay, or no effects at all. Plus, all of the styles in this set display “RealCharts,” which
means that even though you’re hearing audio recordings of real musicians, you can see what they’re playing, as they’re playing
it, in notation, on the on-screen piano keyboard, and for the guitar in TAB and on the on-screen guitar fretboard
RealTracks Set 114: Smooth Jazz - Poppy Guitar and Electric Piano Smooth Jazz soloing on both Electric Piano and Electric
Guitar, as well as a bonus Rhythm Guitar style that blends beautifully with our previously released Smooth Jazz Sets. With the
Electric Piano you have a choice of chorus effect, delay, or no effects at all. Plus, all of the styles in this set display
“RealCharts,” which means that even though you’re hearing audio recordings of real musicians, you can see what they’re
playing, as they’re playing it, in notation, on the on-screen piano keyboard, and for the guitar in TAB and on the on-screen
guitar fretboard.
RealTracks Set 115: Mike LeDonne’s Swingin’ Jazz Piano This set includes six Jazz Piano styles played by Mike LeDonne,
known for playing with some of the greats such as Dizzy Gillespie and Benny Goodman. This set includes Mike comping and
soloing in his distinctive East Coast style over Jazz swing grooves ranging from 60 to 140 beats per minute. Also, you can watch
how it’s done with the RealCharts displayed in Band-in-a-Box either in notation or on the on-screen Piano
RealTracks Set 116: Praise & Worship - Shining 8ths RealTracks Set 116 includes 2 Electric Basses, 4 Electric Guitars
(including 1 soloist), 2 Acoustic Pianos, 2 Synth Pads, and a brand-new Praise & Worship RealDrums style. Whether you need a
little backing Piano or Guitar, or a rockin’ Guitar solo, these styles will compliment your songs beautifully. All styles were
recorded at 120 bpm but can be stretched over a wide tempo range with Band-in-a-Box’s newly enhanced audio stretching
capability. ALL of these styles are also equipped with “RealCharts,” which means that you can see what the musicians are
playing in notation, on the on-screen piano keyboard, and for the basses & guitars you can see the notes in TAB or on the on-
screen guitar fretboard.

390 Appendix A: RealTracks Sets

RealTracks Set 117: Praise & Worship - Uplifting 16ths This set includes Electric Bass, 4 Electric Guitars (including 1 soloist), 2
Acoustic Pianos, a Synth Pad, and a brand-new Praise & Worship even 16ths up-tempo RealDrums style. All recorded at 120
bpm, these styles will be great to compliment your songs whether you use them individually or the whole band at once. And
with Band-in-a-Box’s newly enhanced audio stretching methods; you can slow it down and watch each 16th note as it flies by.
RealTracks Set 118: Brent Mason Country Soloing Four Electric Guitar Country soloing styles played by award winning
Nashville legend Brent Mason. Whether you are shufflin’, train-pickin’, waltzin’, or just wanna boogie, Brent’s delicious Guitar
sound and how-DOES-he-do-it string picking will blow you away! And if that is not enough, Band-in-a-Box’s RealCharts allow
you to watch how these solos are played in notation, TAB, or on the on-screen guitar fretboard.
RealTracks Set 119: TexMex 2-Beat This set includes Electric Bass, Accordion, Electric Guitar, and a brand-new TexMex
RealDrums style that makes you want to get on your feet and dance! These styles work great as a full band, or individually to
compliment any of your older RealTracks. To liven up your songs, the Electric guitar switches from playing chord shots on the
off beats during the A substyle, to lovely little walking melodies in the B substyle.
RealTracks Set 120: TexMex Country Set 120 – TexMex Country - includes Electric Bass, Accordion, Electric Guitar, and a
brand-new TexMex Country RealDrums style. Each style plays an up-tempo even 8ths rhythm at 120 bpm, with a slight Latin
flavor. Even though the instruments were recorded at this tempo, the superior stretching features in Band-in-a-Box allow these
styles to all be used over a very wide tempo range. The Bass and Electric Guitar styles have the bonus of RealCharts so you can
see what the musician is playing, either in notation, TAB, or on the on-screen guitar fretboard. These styles are wonderful
together as a band, but each style also has great potential to combine with other RealTracks as well.
RealTracks Set 121: More Country Banjo, Fiddle & Steel This set offers a variety of rhythms and tempos all played by
your favorite stringed instruments: Banjo, Fiddle, Pedal Steel, and Resonator Guitar. These styles are useful for various tunes
because they range in tempo and rhythm. The Banjo is an even beat at 100, Fiddle is a swing beat at 165, and the Pedal Steel
and Resonator Guitars are both waltz swing beats at 140. And to increase this assortment of rhythms are Band-in-a-Box’s half-
time, double-time, triple-time, and newly enhanced tempo stretching features. The Fiddle, Pedal Steel and Resonator Guitar also
have the added benefit of displaying “RealCharts,” which means that even though these are audio recordings of real musicians,
you can see what’s being played in notation and on the on-screen piano keyboard.
RealTracks Set 122: ‘70s Soul This set features a full RealTracks band of electric bass, drums, electric guitar, piano, and
synth. There are multiple styles on each instrument, as well as variations that switch from one style to another at the part
markers. The piano style also has the option of playing either strictly acoustic, or acoustic piano with a doubled synth layer
playing on top of it. All of the RealTracks in this set are equipped with RealCharts, meaning you can see the notes that are being
played in notation, and the basses and guitars have the added bonus of also displaying in TAB and on the on-screen fretboard.
RealTracks Set 123: Celtic Hornpipes & Slipjigs RealTracks Set 123 continues our collection of Celtic styles with the
“Hornpipe” and “Slipjig” styles, with Acoustic Bass, Acoustic Guitar, and the traditional Irish Bodhran hand drum. The
Hornpipe is a stately swing 8ths groove, similar to a Reel, but at a slower tempo. A slipjig, is a quicker paced 9:8 style, like a
jig, but with 3 extra 8th notes at the end of each bar. These styles are very common in the Celtic repertoire, making this set an
ideal companion for any fiddler, whistler, or anyone who loves Irish music! The Bodhran styles have multiple substyles, with
variations played using a wooded mallet, or a brush, giving you complete control over what you hear. The guitar styles are also
equipped with “RealCharts,” which means that even though these are audio recordings of real musicians, you can see what is
being played in notation, TAB, and on the on-screen guitar fretboard.
RealTracks Set 124: More Pop-Rock Bass This set features 5 new electric bass RealTracks styles that blend beautifully with
many of our previously-released styles. There are pumping 8ths in the TexasRock style, two funky swing 16ths options, as well
as “RootsRock” and “SouthernRock” styles. And, ALL of these styles are equipped with “RealCharts,” which means that you
can see the notes going by in Band-in-a-Box, on the on-screen bass fretboard, or in notation & TAB.
RealTracks Set 125: Crossover Pop RealTracks Set 125 features styles that all provide a unique approach to common
musical genres. The “Crossover” banjo & electric guitar styles are distinctly Country, but take a gritty sound from the Pop
world, and a hip, swinging feel from the Jazz world. Calypso is certainly considered to be a world-beat groove, but here it’s
given a definite pop interpretation, with a piano style to join the previously released PopCalypso styles. Also included in this set
are 3 new RealDrums styles, each with a unique departure from basic Pop & Rock grooves.
RealTracks Set 126: Fast Pop Waltz RealTracks Set 126 provides you with an uptempo Pop approach to the waltz. This set
includes a whole assortment of RealTracks styles: Electric Bass, Fiddle, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Mandolin, Pedal Steel,
and Acoustic Piano. Also joining the group is a brand-new Pop-Rock Waltz RealDrums style. The Electric Guitar plays alternate
substyles to add dynamic range to your song. Each style plays an even 8ths groove at 180 bpm, but with the superior stretching
features in Band-in-a-Box, this actually covers a wide tempo spectrum. Plus, with the new triple-time feature in Band-in-a-Box
these styles can also be used in a 12:8 manner.
RealTracks Set 127 - Groovin’ Jazz Funk This set features a groove that sits right in the pocket, with drums, electric bass,
electric guitar, electric piano, and alto sax. There are 9 individual RealTracks styles in all, and you’re in complete control of the
instrumentation. And they will all play any changes you throw their way! You can have the rhythm section back you up on your
own fusion masterpiece, and you can also throw in a solo or two, either from the electric piano style, or the killer alto sax style.
Just like the rhythm section instruments, the soloists will follow any changes you care to enter. Just type in the chords and press
play!

Appendix A: RealTracks Sets 391

RealTracks Set 128 - Gypsy Jazz Latin RealTracks Set 128 features 6 new Gypsy Jazz styles playing an up-tempo Latin
groove to add to your collection. You can enter your own song, or any classic Bossa progressions, and these styles will groove
effortlessly over the changes! It includes 2 rhythm guitars, intended to be played at the same time for a full rhythmic sound,
acoustic bass, drums, and two soloists: acoustic guitar and fiddle. Plus, all of the guitars and the fiddle are equipped with
“RealCharts” which means that even though you are hearing actual audio recordings of real musicians, you can see the notes
they are playing in notation, TAB, and on the on-screen guitar fretboard!
RealTracks Set 129 - Gypsy Jazz Waltz This set features the big-name players in the world of modern Gypsy Jazz, playing
uptempo waltz styles over any changes you can possibly think to enter into Band-in-a-Box! It includes both A & B substyles for
acoustic bass and drums, there are 2 rhythm acoustic guitar styles, intended to be played together in a complementary manner,
and there are three soloist styles. The soloists include 2 different acoustic guitar soloists, and a hot fiddle. Plus, there is a “soloist
medley” style that trades off on these soloists every 8 bars. All of the guitar styles, as well as the fiddle, are equipped with
“RealCharts,” which means you can see exactly what these hot musicians are playing in notation, TAB, and on the on-screen
guitar fretboard. No matter what changes you enter into Band-in-a-Box, both the rhythm section and the soloists will follow it
flawlessly!
RealTracks Set 130: Mike LeDonne – More Swingin’ Piano & Organ RealTracks Set 130 gives our customers what they
asked for: more swingin’ organ and piano from jazz great Mike LeDonne, and more control over what you hear! This set
features straight-ahead jazz organ, which works over the whole tempo spectrum, from slow ballads to fast bop, and you have the
choice of using the traditional jazz organ technique of having the bass played on the organ, or you can choose instead to have
the organ stick to comping, with the bass taken over by an upright player. Each organ style has both an A section and a B
section, with you controlling when he will play the different parts. And there’s more! This set also includes two organ soloists,
slow ballad or medium jazz swing. These soloists will play over any changes you can think to enter into Band-in-a-Box! Then,
as if that weren’t enough, we also include two jazz waltz comping styles played on a real acoustic piano! RealTracks Set 130 is
a must for any serious jazz fan!
RealTracks Set 132: Paul Franklin – Pedal Steel Country Soloing There’s nothing that embodies the country soul like the
pedal steel, and there’s no one who can play it like the master: Paul Franklin. RealTracks Set 132 features Pedal Steel soloing
over 3 very common Country grooves: The fast-16ths-based “train” groove, a similar but slower 16ths groove, and a medium
country shuffle. Plus, each of these Soloists is equipped with “RealCharts” which means that you can see exactly what is being
played in notation, or on the on-screen piano keyboard, making this an ideal way to learn from the master!
RealTracks Set 132: Paul Franklin – Pedal Steel Country Soloing RealTracks Set 132 features Pedal Steel master Paul
Franklin soloing over 3 very common Country grooves: The fast-16ths-based “train” groove, a similar but slower 16ths groove,
and a medium country shuffle. Plus, each of these Soloists is equipped with “RealCharts” which means that you can see exactly
what is being played in notation, or on the on-screen piano keyboard, making this an ideal way to learn from the master!
RealTracks Set 133: More Brent Mason Country Soloing There are three new soloists by Country Legend Brent Mason in
this set, all with a distinct country flavor, but with rock & pop overtones. There is a slow ballad which blends beautifully with
our previously released ballad RealStyles. And, with the superior stretching features in Band-in-a-Box, it can be used over a
very wide tempo range. There is a medium straight-8ths country soloist. And last but not least, there is a “Workin’” soloist,
which is a medium tempo even 16ths-based groove, similar to our “Train Beat” styles. And, all of these styles are equipped with
“RealCharts” which means you can see exactly what Brent is playing in notation, TAB, and on the on-screen guitar fretboard.
Any chord progression you can think to enter, Brent will wail over the changes effortlessly!
RealTracks Set 134: Praise & Worship Power This spirited set of RealTracks features a pumping groove that can be used in
P&W, rock, or country settings. It features 2 different electric bass styles, 4 rhythm electric guitars, 2 acoustic piano styles,
RealDrums with multiple substyles, and even a powerful electric guitar soloist. Plus, there are variations that switch between the
various styles at the A & B part markers. All of the instruments in this set are equipped with “RealCharts” which means you can
see exactly what’s being played, in notation, TAB, on the piano keyboard, or the guitar fretboard. And, these styles can easily be
mixed and matched with countless other RealTracks styles, whether they’re pop, rock, or Praise & Worship.
RealTracks Set 135: Praise & Worship Believe This versatile set of slow ballads comes with a full band of RealTracks, with
electric bass, 2 rhythm guitars, acoustic piano, synth pad, drums, and even an electric guitar soloist. No matter what chord
changes you enter into Band-in-a-Box, this band will play them with the click of a single button. Even the soloist! All of the
instruments in this set are equipped with “RealCharts” which means you can see exactly what’s being played, in notation, TAB,
on the piano keyboard, or the guitar fretboard. And, these styles can easily be mixed and matched with countless other
RealTracks styles, whether they’re pop, rock, or Praise & Worship.
RealTracks Set 136: More Swingin’ Country: Bass, Guitar, Fiddle & Piano With this set we add to our current country
swing styles with solid electric bass, acoustic piano which locks in with the bass, fast western swing fiddle, and some swingin’,
gritty electric guitar. Every style in this set is equipped with “RealCharts” which means you can see exactly what’s being played
in notation & TAB, or on the onscreen piano keyboard or fretboard. And, with the superior stretching features in Band-in-a-Box,
every one of these styles covers a wide tempo range, so you’re sure to find exactly what you need for your country swing
masterpiece!
RealTracks Set 137: John Jarvis Rockin’ Piano This set features legendary Nashville session player John Jarvis, playing 4
different rockin’ grooves: British Blues Invasion, Fast Rock ‘n Roll, “Island” groove, and Southern Rock. These styles feature
virtuosic rock playing at its finest. And, with RealCharts, these styles are opened up to many learning possibilities. You can see

392 Appendix A: RealTracks Sets

the notes go by either in notation, or on the on-screen piano keyboard. You can slow down and speed up these styles over a wide
tempo range, making them not only extremely versatile for your songs, but also making them easier to learn.
RealTracks Set 138: ‘60s Soul RealTracks Set 138 will bring you back to the raw soul sound of the 60s. This set features a
full RealTracks band of electric bass, drums, electric guitar, & piano. There are multiple styles on each instrument, as well as
variations that switch from one style to another at the part markers. The drums feature multiple substyles, including some with
tambourine, giving you full control of what you want to hear. All of the RealTracks in this set are equipped with RealCharts,
meaning you can see the notes that are being played in notation, and the basses and guitars have the added bonus of also
displaying in TAB and on the on-screen fretboard.
RealTracks Set 139: Folkie 16ths Often you will find that the place where different genres collide to form exciting new
musical forms is the world of folk music. With RealTracks Set 139: Folkie 16ths, you will hear elements of jazz, rock, bluegrass
and funk blend together, and yet still be distinctly folkie! This set features 4 RealTracks styles, including banjo, electric bass,
acoustic guitar and high-strung acoustic guitar. The groove is a funky 16ths rhythm, with a jazzy swing to it. These styles are
great on their own without drums, and you can just imagine 4 stellar session players gathered around a campfire. Or, you can
match it with the many different swing 16ths RealDrums options. And, with RealCharts you will be able to watch and learn as
these great musicians play!
RealTracks Set 140: Texas Blues-Rock Shuffle Every incarnation of the Blues has its own distinctive sound, and Texas
Blues is no exception. This is a heavy swinging, rock-infused form of the blues, and will keep you rockin’ all night long!
RealTracks Set 140 features a full band, with 2 rhythm guitars, electric bass, piano, and two distinctly different electric guitar
soloists! Also included is the BluesRockShuffle RealDrums style. All of these instruments are equipped with RealCharts, which
means you can watch and learn what these top session players are playing, in notation, TAB, and on the on-screen guitar/bass
fretboard. And, with the bass and guitars, you have the option of using the distinct sound of the players, or you can instead select
the Direct Input signal, and use a guitar amp simulator to get your own distinct tone!
RealTracks Set 141: Pop 16ths Ballads Whether it’s rock, pop or country, one of the most common types of song you hear
on the radio today is the ballad. With RealTracks Set 141, you have at your fingertips an arsenal of ballad RealTracks styles that
will work in many different situations. This set features electric bass, two different electric guitar styles, 3 acoustic guitars,
including strumming, fingerpicking and high-strung, fiddle, mandolin, and piano! It’s easy to mix and match styles within this
set, and also to mix with previously released styles to get exactly the right sound for your rock, pop or country ballad. And, if
your goal is to learn, many of these styles are equipped with RealCharts, letting you see what these stellar session musicians are
playing in notation, and in the case of the basses and guitars, in TAB and on the on-screen fretboards. The bass & electric
guitars also have direct input versions available, so you can choose to use the tone selected by the player, or you can use the
direct input style with a guitar amp simulator to create your own distinct sound!
RealTracks Set 142: Pop 16ths Medium RealTracks Set 142 is the perfect choice for anyone who needs at their fingertips a
variety of different instruments for their pop, country or rock even 8ths tune. This set features 7 instruments playing a medium
16th-note based groove. Included are 3 guitars: electric, acoustic and high-strung acoustic, as well as fiddle, mandolin, piano
and electric bass. And, these styles are excellent as writing tools, as well as learning tools. The bass, all 3 guitars, and the piano
are all equipped with RealCharts, which means that even though these are studio recordings of real musicians on real
instruments, you can see what they’re playing in notation, on the on-screen piano keyboard, and for the bass and guitars, TAB
and guitar fretboard. There’s something for everyone with RealTracks Set 142!
RealTracks Set 143: Dixieland - Fast Rhythm Section Get ready for that sweet classic Dixieland sound! RealTracks Set 143
features 5 RealTracks styles, including piano, acoustic guitar, banjo, drums, and tuba playing the bass lines. These styles are
great as a backup for you to practice soloing to, or you can combine them with the Dixieland soloists in RealTracks Set 144 to
get the whole band going! The guitar and piano have ‘RealCharts’ which means that you can see what these fantastic session
players are playing by watching the notes go by in notation or on the on-screen piano & fretboard. The tuba and banjo have
different parts that they play for the A & B sections, and for the drums there are 7 variations to choose from. These styles form a
complete band all on their own and are also great for mixing and matching with styles from other sets.
RealTracks Set 144: Dixieland – Fast Soloists Your toes will be tappin’ and your fingers will be snappin’ the second you
press play in Band-in-a-Box with RealTracks Set 144: Dixieland - Fast Soloists. This set features 4 different instruments for a
total of 7 unique RealTracks styles. It’s features all of the essential Dixieland soloists: Clarinet, Trombone, Trumpet & Acoustic
Guitar. And, the Clarinet, Trombone & Trumpet each have two different RealTracks, a background soloist & a full-on soloist.
The background soloist can be used for A sections where you want a more subdued sound before the B section is belted out, or,
you can also use all three of the “background soloists” together, in a raucous, rousing Dixieland finale! Every single one of these
styles has ‘RealCharts’, which means you can see exactly what these top session musicians are playing in notation and on the
on-screen piano keyboard. Plus, the guitar has the added benefit of displaying TAB, and the notes appear on the correct strings
on the on-screen guitar fretboard!
RealTracks Set 145: Jazz-Funk Breezy RealTracks Set 145 will make you feel the smooth, gentle breeze as you listen to
these slow grooving jazz-funk styles! This set features 7 RealTracks styles, including electric bass, two electric guitars, a rhythm
and soloist electric piano, and a sweet tenor sax soloist. They all blend together beautifully into a mellow, funky groove! The
bass, sax & electric piano styles are all equipped with “RealCharts,” which means you can see exactly what these first-class
session musicians are playing, both in notation, and on the on-screen piano keyboard. And for the bass, there’s the added benefit

Appendix A: RealTracks Sets 393

of correct TAB, and the notes appear on the on-screen bass fretboard. For learning, composing, or just for some great listening,
you can go wrong with RealTracks Set 145 - Jazz-Funk Breezy!
RealTracks Set 146: Jazz Fusion Soloing RealTracks Set 146 introduces the sophisticated modern jazz fusion guitar sound to
Band-in-a-Box. These soloists combine the complexity of jazz, the grit of rock, and the groove of funk, all into a style that’s
unmistakably fusion. There are 3 soloists included in this set, from slow, breezy Jazz-Funk, to a medium Jazz-Rock groove, to a
fast Samba with elements of modern pop. All of these styles are equipped with RealCharts, which means you can see exactly
what’s being played in notation, TAB, or on the on-screen guitar fretboard. And, each guitar also has a corresponding ‘direct
input’ option, which means you can either choose the sound selected by this stellar session musician, or you can opt for the DI
guitar and create your own tone with VST plugins!
RealTracks Set 147: Mike LeDonne Bossa With RealTracks Set 147 you will feel like you’re in New York City, drinking in
the sophistication of some of the most famous jazz clubs in the world! This set features jazz legend Mike LeDonne playing Jazz
Bossas at multiple tempos, on both organ and piano. The comping organs have options where the bass is played on the organ, as
is often the case in jazz organ trios, or where the bass is left out, allowing for the use of acoustic bass. The two piano styles
provide a nice alternative from our existing Bossa pianos, and there are also two organ soloists! Every one of these RealTracks
styles is equipped with RealCharts, which means you can see exactly when Mike is playing in notation and on the on-screen
piano keyboard. This is a great set for learning or for listening!
RealTracks Set 148: Solo Accompaniment Jazz Guitar RealTracks Set 148 continues our collection of “Solo-
Accompaniment” Jazz Guitar with 4 new RealTracks styles. These styles are intended to be used as “the whole rhythm section,”
with no need for additional drums, bass, or any other rhythm section instrument. They’re a great way of providing a mellow but
elegant backing for a singer or a soloist. Included are two Bossas, a slow ballad and an uptempo Bossa, as well as a slow ballad
waltz and a medium tempo jazz waltz. And, every one of these styles is equipped with RealCharts, which means that even those
these are actual recordings of a top session musician, you can still see what’s going on as if it were MIDI, by watching the
notation as well as the TAB and on-screen guitar fretboard. These are excellent tools for learning, listening, or composing!
RealTracks Set 149: Pedal Steel Country with Paul Franklin Get ready for more of the sweetest sound in the world: Pedal
Steel! RealTracks Set 149 features 3 new RealTracks soloist styles from Country and Pop legend Paul Franklin. Included is an
uptempo western swing, along with a slow country ballad, and a medium even 8ths country groove. Plus, each of these also
comes with a “direct input” version, which means that there were two signals recorded, the amp sound that was Paul Franklin’s
own tone, as well as a direct input, which is the direct signal from the Pedal Steel with no effects added to it. By choosing the
direct input version instead, you can create your own tone using VST plugins! Also, each of these is equipped with RealCharts,
which means you can see exactly what Paul is playing in notation or on the on-screen piano keyboard.
RealTracks Set 150: Fancy Fingerpicking RealTracks Set 150 adds 7 new acoustic guitar styles to your country/pop/rock
collection! This set features 4 fingerpicking styles by Nashville legend Brent Mason, along with 3 fingerpicking 12-string
acoustic styles. The Brent Mason styles are intended to be used along with our previously released fingerpicking styles, which
will evoke memories of watching your favorite folk heroes in concert halls with killer bands backing them up. There are slow
and medium tempos for these styles, both swing 8ths and even 8ths. The 12-string styles provide a nice full sound, which are
great for rounding out any even 8ths country, pop or rock band. And, all of these styles are equipped with RealCharts, which
means you can watch exactly what the musicians are doing in notation, TAB and on the on-screen guitar fretboard.
RealTracks Set 151: Praise & Worship – Promise RealTracks Set 151 continues our collection of inspiring Praise &
Worship RealTracks, with a collection of medium tempo 16th-note-based styles. This set features 7 styles, including acoustic
guitar, 4 different electric guitars, piano and drums. With the RealDrums there are 4 different substyle grooves, arranged into 6
different variations, so you can pick exactly what you need for your song. The electric guitars are designed to work well played
together, and you can pick variations that switch from one style to another at the A and B part markers, giving your song added
dynamics. These guitars also have “direct input” variations available, which means you can select that and create your own
unique tone by applying VST plugins! And, all of these RealTracks are equipped with RealCharts, which means you can see
exactly what is being played in notation, TAB, and on the on-screen guitar fretboard and piano keyboard.
RealTracks Set 152: Country Drivin’ 8ths Are you ready for some hard drivin’ country? Then look no further than
RealTracks Set 152 – Country Drivin’ 8ths! This set adds 5 styles to your Band-in-a-Box country/rock collection with electric
bass, fiddle, electric guitar and pedal steel. There are two bass styles, a pumpin’ 8ths groove, and a style that plays a rock ‘n roll
triad pattern, as well as an option to have it switch between the two at A and B part markers. Choosing the fiddle or pedal steel
will give your song a real rockin’ country flavor, and the electric guitar rounds everything out! Every single style in this set is
equipped with RealCharts, which means you can see exactly what’s being played in notation, TAB, or on the on-screen guitar
fretboard!
RealTracks Set 153: Bluegrass Waltz & More By popular demand, RealTracks Set 153 adds more styles to your country and
bluegrass waltz collection! This set features 3 country waltz piano styles, along with bluegrass waltz banjo and mandolin. The
two bluegrass styles blend beautifully with our previously released country waltz acoustic bass and guitars to provide a full
bluegrass band. The three pianos cover the whole spectrum, and all tempos in-between are covered with the superior stretching
features in Band-in-a-Box. If you have your RealTracks preferences set to do so, Band-in-a-Box will ALWAYS pick the best
style for your song based on the tempo! These pianos are also all equipped with RealCharts, so you can see exactly what’s being
played in notation or on the on-screen piano keyboard.

394 Appendix A: RealTracks Sets

RealTracks Set 154: Brent Mason Classic Country Soloing RealTracks Set 154 is our fifth set to feature Nashville legend
Brent Mason, and these sets just keep getting better and better. This “Classic” Country Soloing set has 4 different styles,
including Western Swing, classic 12:8, even 8ths country ballad, and uptempo even 8ths country. Learn from this master by
watching every note he plays in notation, TAB, and on the on-screen guitar fretboard. Or, mix and match these soloists with
other country styles, or even mix and match with other genres, such as jazz swing or gypsy jazz! Plus, all of these styles have
‘direct input’ variations, which allow YOU to control the exact tone with guitar amp simulators.
RealTracks Set 155: John Jarvis Pop Piano RealTracks Set 155 gives you more great piano styles from Nashville Rock and
Country master John Jarvis! This set features three new pop piano styles, from slow ballads to exciting “rootsy” grooves. There
are styles that work perfectly with our existing bands, and there is also a “solo-accompaniment” style which is intended to be
used without any other rhythm section instruments. This is what you’d want for your soul-searching ballad, where it’s just your
voice and a master pianist backing you up. All three styles are equipped with RealCharts, which means not only do you get to
hear a high-quality audio recording of a real piano, you can also see what’s being played in notation and on the on-screen piano
keyboard. Slow it down to start and gradually speed it up as you learn, and with the superior stretching features in Band-in-a-
Box, it will sound fantastic the whole time!
RealTracks Set 156: Texas Blues-Rock: Straight-8ths This set features rockin’ straight-8ths Blues styles making up a
complete band which includes 2 rhythm guitar styles, 2 electric guitar soloists, an electric bass and even a brand-new
RealDrums style. The guitars are all played by British blues prodigy Sol Philcox and Nashville great Brent Mason. With these
two players, you get a full sound with complementary rhythm parts and two unique takes on soloing over this straight-ahead
groove. All of the guitars feature RealCharts so you can see exactly what these top session players are playing, in notation,
TAB, and on the on-screen guitar fretboard. The rhythm section is rounded out with solid electric bass & drums.
RealTracks Set 157: Texas Blues-Rock: Rock ‘n’ Roll RealTracks Set 157 continues our collection of Texas Blues-Rock
styles with new up-tempo soloists, two new electric bass styles, and exciting new RealDrums. The soloists include two fast
Rock ‘n’ Roll styles with a hard blues edge. One is played by Nashville legend Brent Mason, and the other by up-and-coming
master of Blues, Sol Philcox. Both offer a unique approach to soloing over this groove, and there are variations that let you have
these two virtuosos trading off solos in the same song! There are also two solid new electric bass styles, one playing over this
same fast-rock Blues, and the other playing a slower funky even-8ths style. The guitars and basses also are all equipped with
RealCharts that show you exactly what these first-rate musicians are playing in notation, TAB, and on the on-screen fretboards.
They can play in any key, over any changes you enter into Band-in-a-Box, and with the superior stretching features in Band-in-
a-Box, you can use them over a very wide tempo range.
RealTracks Set 158: Modern Dance Pop This RealTracks set features ten Modern Dance-Pop RealTracks styles that feature
synth-based RealTracks, with bass styles, chording, and single-note styles. Also included is the Modern Dance-Pop RealDrums
style with 8 different substyles in 16 different combination variations. You can mix and match the RealTracks styles, and also
use them with RealTracks styles from other sets, such as Rock, Pop or Country styles.
RealTracks Set 159: Folk-Pop Ballads One of the most popular groups of RealTracks is the slow Ballad style, RealTracks
Set 159 features great RealTracks playing this nice slow groove. Whether your creation is Rock, Pop, Country or Folk, the
RealTracks in Set 159 are sure to please! This set includes electric instruments such as guitars and bass, and many acoustic
instruments including accordion, banjo, bass fiddle, guitars, mandolin and piano. The electric guitars include a crisp, clean tone
as well as a powerful overdriven tone, and with acoustic guitar we have a standard tuning strummed acoustic as well as a high-
strung fingerpicking style. Many of these styles are equipped with RealCharts.
RealTracks Set 160: Jazz-Funk Movin’ RealTracks Set 160 adds ten up-tempo RealTracks styles to our popular collection of
Jazz-Funk styles. There are three new RealDrums styles, with different Jazz-Funk variations, as well as 2 electric basses, 2
electric guitars, 2 electric pianos, a rhythm style and a soloist, and a hip tenor sax soloist. A fretless electric bass RealTracks
style is included. With the superior stretching features in Band-in-a-Box, all of these styles work very well over a wide tempo
range.
RealTracks Set 161: Mike LeDonne Jazz Waltz Organ RealTracks Set 161 continues the popular collection of styles by
New York jazz great Mike LeDonne. In this set, there are Jazz Waltz styles, both comping as well as soloists. There are two
tempos for each style, 85 & 140, and with the superior stretching features in Band-in-a-Box, the tempos in between are covered
too! For the comping styles, there are options where the organist is chording as well as playing the bass lines, which is very
common with jazz organs. And, there are also options where the organ bass parts have been removed, giving you the option of
picking other bass styles, such as acoustic or electric basses. Every style has RealCharts so you can see exactly what Mike
LeDonne is playing in notation as well as on the on-screen piano keyboard.
RealTracks Set 162: Dixieland - Medium Rhythm Section RealTracks Set 162 continues our series of Dixieland styles with
four different rhythm instruments all playing at a medium tempo of 110 bpm. This set will provide your whole backing band
with tuba, piano, tenor banjo, and acoustic guitar. The tuba and banjo styles include both A and B sub-style variations: from
“Simple” to “Razz-a-ma-tazz” for the banjo, and from “in-2” to “walking”‘ for the tuba. The piano and guitar styles have
RealCharts, and there is also tablature for the guitar with all of the notes on the correct strings exactly as played.
RealTracks Set 163: Son Montuno RealTracks Set 163 is the first in our series of authentic Cuban styles, starting with Son
Montuno. With its fusion of European and African traditions, the Son is one of the most important genres of Cuban popular
music. This set features a full band, with two options for bass, acoustic guitar, two choices for piano styles, and the first of our

Appendix A: RealTracks Sets 395

“tres” styles. The tres is a traditional Cuban instrument and gives the entire style a very distinctive flavor. The basses, guitar and
pianos are also all equipped with RealCharts, which means that Band-in-a-Box displays the audio recordings in notation.
RealTracks Set 164: Bolero RealTracks Set 164 continues our collection of Afro-Cuban styles, with a set of slow, grooving
Bolero RealTracks styles. The Bolero is a slow Latin Ballad, and the masterful playing in these styles sets the perfect sultry
mood. This set features five new styles which include baby bass, 2 acoustic guitars and 2 piano styles. These styles blend
beautifully with our Bolero percussion RealDrums styles, and also work very well with other genres, such as our large collection
of Bossa styles. For guitars, there is an option that plays a straight ahead solid rhythm, and the second guitar plays tasteful fills
that would work very well as a background to a vocal line, or even as a counterpart to another soloist. There are two similar
options for piano, one which takes a strictly chordal approach and another that plays simple melodic fills. Each style in this set is
also equipped with “RealCharts.”
RealTracks Set 165: John Jarvis Country Piano RealTracks Set 165 features three great styles by pop and country legend
John Jarvis: Honky-Tonk, Train-Beat, and slow Country Ballad. These styles work well in Country, Pop or Rock settings. Also
included are Band-in-a-Box RealStyles that pair these pianos with other RealTracks styles, so all you need to do is load that
style and you have a full band that includes these killer pianos. Band-in-a-Box displays the audio recordings in RealCharts
notation and on the on-screen piano keyboard.
RealTracks Set 166: Praise & Worship - Modern Groove RealTracks Set 166 continues our popular collection of Praise and
Worship styles with thirteen new RealTracks styles including electric and acoustic guitars, electric bass, acoustic piano, synth
strings, and RealDrums. The groove here is a slow ballad, though with the superior stretching features in Band-in-a-Box a much
wider range is covered. Included are several RealStyles which form various combinations of these styles, including very mellow
versions with piano and the drummer playing a toned-down side-stick groove, as well as rocking power ballad RealStyles. There
is also a “Multistyle” included which gives you access to ALL of these RealTracks in a single song, simply by selecting
different part markers (A, B, C, D). Every one of these styles is equipped with RealCharts, and the electric guitars and basses
also include the “direct input” versions.
RealTracks Set 167: Country Boogie and More This set features two tempos of Country Boogie on both electric bass and
acoustic piano including a bonus of two new Praise & Worship electric guitar styles and a cello RealTracks style playing slow,
Pop/Country ballad parts. The Country Boogie styles work very well with our previously released electric guitar styles, and the
basses have two options at each tempo: a root-fifth style, as well as an arpeggiated style. The cello provides simple linear parts
to your Country, Pop, or Rock song. The Praise & Worship electric guitars fit right in with our previously released styles but can
also be mixed and matched with countless other medium tempo Pop, Rock, or Country styles.
RealTracks Set 168: Western Swing Soloists This set features four new Western Swing soloists: fiddle, resonator guitar,
mandolin and piano played by top Nashville studio musicians. We also include RealStyles that combine these fantastic soloists
with some of our previous soloists such as Brent Mason’s electric guitar and Paul Franklin’s pedal steel, in soloist medleys that
trade 8s, or in a multistyle that allows you to specify exactly where you want each solo.
RealTracks Set 169: Killer Country Soloing RealTracks Set 169 features four different instruments soloing over four
completely different country grooves, ranging from slow ballads to up-tempo train beat. There is a fiddle soloing over a medium
even 8ths country groove, a slow swinging 12/8 piano soloist, an up-tempo train beat resonator guitar soloist and a mandolin
soloing over a slow country even 8ths ballad. The superior stretching features in Band-in-a-Box enable you to use these
RealTracks over a wide tempo range, and each one is also equipped with RealCharts so you can see exactly what they’re playing
in notation, TAB, on the on-screen piano keyboard, or on the on-screen guitar fretboard.
RealTracks Set 170 - Texas Blues-Rock: Slow Groovin’ 12:8 The most anticipated RealTracks event is finally here, R&B
Horns! For the first time ever, PG Music is proud to present a horn section RealTracks style. And this style is incredibly
versatile, with RealStyles that pair it with JazzFunk, Soul, BluesRock, and even Country rhythm sections! The section is
comprised of baritone sax, tenor sax & trumpet, and you have the option of playing them as a group, or even using them as
individual background styles. You will be blown away by RealTracks Set 176 - R&B Horn Section!
RealTracks Set 171 - Medium Folk-Pop 8ths This set features the blending of folk and pop. With RealTracks Set 171 you
get traditional folk instruments, such as the accordion, fiddle and mandolin, playing with a pop 8ths feel. These medium tempo
styles will fit well into many folk and pop situations.
RealTracks Set 172 - EuroDance Unleash your inner diva with RealTracks Set 172! This set features 11 new Modern Dance
RealTracks synth styles with a European flair. The RealDrums style provides the foundation, with 20 different possible groove
variations, and you can then layer the sound with modern and vintage synth tones.
RealTracks Set 173 - Celtic Bouzouki and Guitar RealTracks Set 173 expands on our collection of Celtic styles. This set
features 2 acoustic guitar styles and 2 Bouzouki styles (a first in RealTracks history). The styles represent a slow air along with
a reel, a jig and a waltz. RealCharts are available for the guitars to allow you to see all the notes being played.
RealTracks Set 174 - Pop Mandolin, Piano, and Guitar RealTracks Set 174 gives you more opportunities to give your
composition that extra flair! With a wide variety of tempos and grooves, you will spend hours mixing and matching these styles,
which include a killer acoustic guitar style performed by Brent Mason, a rootsy piano soloist performed by Nashville legend
John Jarvis, and 3 Mandolin styles by session wizard Andy Leftwich.
RealTracks Set 175 - Texas Blues-Rock: Smokin’ Blues Sax Add instant cool to your blues-rock progressions with this
collection of sax soloists. RealTracks Set 175 features 4 alto sax styles that will definitely liven up the room. The playing in all 3

396 Appendix A: RealTracks Sets

styles ranges from mellow lows to screaming highs. RealCharts allows you to see all the notes that are being played. Get your
cool on with RealTracks Set 175!
RealTracks Set 176 - R&B Horn Section The most anticipated RealTracks event is finally here, R&B Horns! For the first
time ever, PG Music is proud to present a horn section RealTracks style. And this style is incredibly versatile, with RealStyles
that pair it with JazzFunk, Soul, BluesRock, and even Country rhythm sections! The section is comprised of baritone sax, tenor
sax & trumpet, and you have the option of playing them as a group, or even using them as individual background styles. You
will be blown away by RealTracks Set 176 - R&B Horn Section!
RealTracks Set 177 - Guajira & Guaracha Let the rhythms of RealTracks Set 177 take you away to warmer climes. Both the
Guajira and the Guaracha represent the music of late 19th century and early 20th century Latin America. This set features 6
styles containing bass, piano and the tres. The basses and the piano are equipped with RealCharts allowing you to see the notes
being played. Let yourself be surrounded by the sounds of the south!
RealTracks Set 178 - Dixieland - Medium Soloists With RealTracks Set 178 we revisit the sweet sounds of Dixieland. You
get 7 styles consisting of clarinet, trombone, trumpet and acoustic guitar. The clarinet, trombone and trumpet come with a
background soloist and a full-on soloist. You can follow along note by note with the help of RealCharts. All playing is displayed
in the notation window and on the on-screen piano keyboard. The guitar can also be viewed in TAB or on the on-screen
fretboard.
RealTracks Set 179 - Guitar - Jazz and More! By popular request, RealTracks Set 179 adds more guitar in both the
traditional jazz & middle-of-the-road categories. It features two EZ Listening acoustic guitar styles, as well as new “Freddie”
acoustic guitar JazzWaltz styles that work great with our existing JazzWaltz rhythm section. Last but not least, there is a new
slow bossa soloist which you can add to your slow grooving Latin tunes!
RealTracks Set 180 - Classic Jazz Piano If you love to play or listen to jazz piano, now there are even more options in Band-
in-a-Box with RealTracks Set 180 - Classic Jazz Piano. This set features styles that emulate the old masters of jazz, with 3
tempos of “4-to-the-bar” comping, as well as an exciting “40s Boogie” style. And with RealCharts, you can see exactly what is
being played in notation and on the on-screen piano keyboard, making this an essential learning tool!
RealTracks Set 181 - Smooth Jazz Piano PG Music is expanding its popular collection of Smooth Jazz styles with 5 new
acoustic piano RealTracks styles. The existing Smooth Jazz RealTracks use electric piano, but these new ones give you the
option of hearing a great acoustic piano in your smooth jazz compilations. With each new RealTracks set, you’re provided with
ever more expanding tools to learn, compose, and practice!
RealTracks Set 182 - More Pedal Steel Country with Paul Franklin RealTracks Set 182 gives you more of the Country and
Pop legend Paul Franklin. This set features more of the sweet, singing tone of Paul’s pedal steel technique. Included is an
uptempo style with an even feel and 3 slow tempo swing feel styles. RealCharts allows to see every note of Paul’s playing both
in notation and on the on-screen piano keyboard.
RealTracks Set 183 - Country Soloists: Sax and More! RealTracks Set 183 gives you some great new sax soloists for your
country or pop tunes. The set features one alto sax style and 2 tenor sax styles. And that’s not all! Also included in this set are
“Country Workin’” RealTracks soloists, with fiddle, resonator guitar and piano soloists! With all this great material, RealTracks
Set 183 is a great deal!
RealTracks Set 184 - More John Jarvis Country Piano The masterful playing of legend John Jarvis returns in this
collection, RealTracks Set 184. The 7 styles here work well in many Country, Pop or Rock song situations. Tempos of the styles
range from 65bpm to 165bpm. RealCharts will give you the ability to see all the notes that John plays in notation or on the on-
screen piano keyboard, making it an essential learning tool.
RealTracks Set 185 - More Killer Country Soloing Prepare to have your socks knocked off with the killer licks in
RealTracks Set 185! This set features 7 fantastic new Country Soloists, with Fiddle, Mandolin and Resonator Guitar styles! And
if that’s not enough, you also get “Bluesy” variations for a different take on the styles, as well as double-time variations, which
make these styles even more versatile than they already are! If your goal is to learn some great licks, you can see exactly what is
being played as you hear it, in the notation screen or printable lead sheet.
RealTracks Set 186 - John Jarvis Solo-Accompaniment Piano RealTracks Set 186 features the solo-accompaniment piano
styles of John Jarvis. The set features 6 styles that could easily be used in both a country or pop setting. These styles are
intended to be used as the whole rhythm section, backing up a singer or soloist. All notes played can be seen in notation or on
the on-screen piano keyboard with the help of RealCharts
RealTracks Set 187 - More Fancy Fingerpicking with Brent Mason Country legend Brent Mason is back once again in
RealTracks Set 187 with 5 new acoustic guitar fingerpicking styles. The set features slow and medium/fast tempos with swing
and even 8ths feels. All styles are equipped with RealCharts, which means you can follow along with Brent note by note in
notation, TAB and on the on-screen fretboard.
RealTracks Set 188: Slow Background Pop Horn Section RealTracks set 188 continues our very popular collection of horn
section RealTracks, with exciting new pop styles! This is a 4-part horn section of 3 saxes (alto, tenor, & baritone) and trumpet. It
includes slow 16ths pop, with a “pads” variation as well as one that plays more complex rhythmic & melodic phrases. Then
there is a medium pop version, also with both a “pads” variation and a melodic variation. You can also use any of the individual
horns by themselves or come up with your own combination of instruments! There are “RealCharts” for all of these horns,

Appendix A: RealTracks Sets 397

which means you can see exactly what is being played in notation, or on the on-screen piano keyboard. With all the different
ways to use these great new horn section RealTracks, your Band-in-a-Box experience will now be even more exciting!
RealTracks Set 189: Blues Baritone Sax with Gary Smulyan RealTracks Set 189 brings you more great Blues styles, this
time soloist RealTracks by legendary baritone saxophonist Gary Smulyan. Gary is the first name in jazz baritone sax, having
multiple wins in all the major jazz polls, including Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll, the Jazz Times polls, and the Jazz
Journalist awards. He’s also toured and recorded with many great blues and pop artists, such as Ray Charles, Diana Ross, and
B.B. King, and now you can have him solo over your own musical creation! This set features 3 RealTracks styles: a straight-
8ths soloist, a shuffle soloist, and a ‘background’ shuffle part. The background part is simpler than the soloists and is intended to
be used while a singer or soloist is performing, adding color to the whole mix. These styles are great for students, with features
such as accurate notation that displays while the performance is playing. The notation can be viewed in concert notation, so
anyone can learn these great licks on ANY instrument, and if you’re a baritone sax player yourself, you can transpose to Eb
notation with the click of a button!
RealTracks Set 190: New Orleans Boogie! Get ready to boogie with RealTracks Set 190! This set gives you a distinctly New
Orleans take on the boogie, with a full rhythm section of RealTracks, and even a smokin’ RealTracks piano soloist! The set
includes 2 piano styles (one rhythm, one soloist), drums, bass, and electric guitar. The bass and guitar RealTracks provide a
solid foundation, with lots of character and drive. The drums offer 6 variations, with different combinations of sidestick, hi-hat,
brushes, snare, and ride grooves. And the showpiece is the piano! With the rhythm section piano RealTracks, you get a solid
groove and exciting licks, but will still work well with a singer or soloist playing over top. And then with the piano soloist,
that’s taken up a notch, and you get some crazy, great soloing! The bass and guitar display in notation and TAB, as well as
displaying on the on-screen fretboard. The piano also displays in notation, and can be viewed on the on-screen piano keyboard,
both with accurate separation of left-hand and right-hand parts. All of these features make this a great learning tool! With
RealTracks Set 190, you won’t be able to keep your feet still!
RealTracks Set 191: Funky Electric Piano & More! Containing some of the most classic sounds in modern music,
RealTracks Set 191 incorporates classic rock and funk rhythms into one of our most groovin’ RealTracks sets yet! The set
revolves around 3 electric piano RealTracks, performed by Nashville great John Jarvis. One uses a vintage sound used
frequently in the ‘60s, but which is still in common use today, and two use a percussive, funky electric clav sound. These
RealTracks are then supported by 3 new RealTracks styles, 2 electric basses, and one electric guitar. And, they also work
beautifully with many of our previously release RealTracks styles. Each RealTrack is equipped with “RealCharts,” which means
you can see exactly what is being played as you hear it. This can be in standard notation, or for the guitars and bass you can see
it in TAB or on the on-screen fretboards, and for the piano, you can see it on the on-screen piano keyboard. You can even easily
distinguish the left and right-hand parts, as they’re displayed in different colors! Whether you’re interested in learning the parts,
having them add color to your song, or just listen and enjoy, RealTracks Set 191 has something for everyone!
RealTracks Set 192: Dance: GirlPop, 90s & More! Once we hit 88 miles per hour, we will be back to the 80’s with
RealTracks set 192! This set includes a variety of synth and acoustic piano styles to add to any of your pop songs. The tempos
have a wide range from 85bpm to 140bpm all playing even grooves. There is even a new RealDrums set included:
SynthDrumsBubblegum! All of the styles in this set work well together, but also work great as individual add-ons for other pop,
dance, rock, or even country styles. Each style has MIDI RealCharts included so there are endless possibilities of changing the
sound through your favorite synthesizers or sample banks.
RealTracks Set 193: Dance: Disco & More! If you are ready to dance, rock, disco, and then dance some more then
RealTracks Set 193 is for you! This set includes a variety of synth RealTracks that can be mixed and matched in many ways.
The foundation of this set is the different bass and drums styles that really deliver the Disco and DanceRock grooves. Then you
can add to these with all kinds of synth styles including electric piano, saw-tooth leads, synth-guitar, Shakuhachi and more. All
of these styles work well on their own but are open to endless possibilities for adding effects or even playing the included
RealChart versions (MIDI) through your favorite synthesizers or sample banks. All of these styles were recorded at an even
120bpm, which means they also work great with any previously released synth RealTracks such as the Modern Dance Pop or
EuroDance collections.
RealTracks Set 194: Jazz Poll Winners 1 - Great Saxes: Phil Woods & Gary Smulyan RealTracks Set 194 brings Band-in-
a-Box jazz soloists to the next level, with jazz legends Phil Woods & Gary Smulyan. Phil Woods is universally regarded as one
of the greatest alto sax players of our time. With over 25 wins for best alto player in Downbeat magazine’s critic’s poll, you
know this isn’t an understatement. In addition to his jazz pedigree, Phil is also known worldwide as the player of the iconic sax
lines & solo in Billy Joel’s “Just the Way You Are.” Gary Smulyan has also won the critics poll for best baritone sax player
many times, and has also won many other accolades, such as the baritone saxophonist of the year award in the Jazz Journalists
Association, and the baritone saxophonist of the year award in Jazzit Magazine, among many others. And now you can have
these world-class players soloing over your own Band-in-a-Box creations! Enter any chord progression into Band-in-a-Box, and
these cats will solo over it! There are 3 RealTracks styles, including bossas and jazz swing styles, and each of those has several
options, including double-time playing over slower tempos, and “bluesy” variations. There is over 7 hours of unique recorded
material, which makes these ideal for a lifetime of learning from the masters. These styles have accurate RealCharts, which
means that even though you are listening to high-quality audio recordings of these musicians, Band-in-a-Box is able to display
the notes as they’re playing them, both in notation and on the on-screen piano keyboard. This makes these indispensable tools
for any music student. You can slow the playing down, speed it up, and loop it, making it all the more accessible for learning.

398 Appendix A: RealTracks Sets

These are great for any person wanting to develop their improvising chops, regardless of their instrument. And, if you’re an alto
or baritone player yourself, you can have the notation display change from concert to Eb or Bb display with a single click of the
mouse!
RealTracks Set 195: Jazz Poll Winners 2 - Pat Martino Guitar PG Music is thrilled to present Pat Martino as one of the
newest RealTracks artists. Pat has been a luminary in the jazz world for over 50 years, being an inspiration to aspiring jazz
guitarists, and winning countless jazz polls, including Downbeat Magazine Reader Poll, Guitarist of the Year. And now you can
have him playing over any chord progression you enter into Band-in-a-Box! This set features Pat soloing in a fast jazz swing
style, as well as a medium bossa style. With the superior stretching features in Band-in-a-Box, these soloists can be used over a
wide tempo range. And not only that, but they can also be treated as “Double-Time” soloists, which means they can be played
over completely different slow bossa & swing rhythm sections. For the student of jazz guitar, this set is indispensable. You can
see every single note that Pat plays in accurate notation, TAB, and you can also watch the notes fly by on the on-screen guitar
fretboard. Too fast to learn? Band-in-a-Box can slow the audio down as much as you like, so you can easily learn exactly what
this master is playing. The tone of Pat’s guitar is smooth and beautiful, but if you want to experiment with your own tone, you
can pick the “direct input” (DI) version, in which the audio was simultaneously recorded directly from Pat’s guitar, bypassing
the amp and effects. You can then use your own amp-modeling software to get your own unique tone.
RealTracks Set 196: Jazz Poll Winners 3 - Killer JazzSwing Rhythm Sections In RealTracks Set 196 you get an incredible
collection of Jazz “Poll Winners” with 9 RealTracks and 3 RealDrums with 6 variations. The first style includes Acoustic Bass
Jazz Ballad, played by “Jazz Poll Winner” Ron Carter. Here Ron plays an impressive swing jazz ballad with a classic acoustic
bass tone. This RealTrack also includes RealCharts so you can follow along with exactly what Ron is playing. Also included in
the first style is Acoustic Piano Jazz Swing Slow, from “Jazz Poll Winner” Kenny Barron. Kenny Barron plays a subtle swing
style which is excellent accompaniment to Ron Carters bass. You can also watch exactly what Kenny Barron is playing in the
RealCharts. Completing the Trio of Jazz Poll Winners is Lewis Nash playing Jazz Swing Drums. Lewis Nash plays 3 styles of
Jazz Swing Drums which are combined in to 6 variations. Also included in this set is the medium jazz swing style. Ron Carter
plays a swinging acoustic bass, which includes an A section and a B section, in this style. The A section plays in 2’s and the B
section plays a walking bass pattern. The piano, from Kenny Barron, in this style plays a laid-back swing consisting of half
notes and quarter notes. The RealDrums in this style are by Lewis Nash. He plays a Jazz swing style with a wide tempo range
and lots of variations. The final style in this set is a Fast Jazz Swing style which includes Fast Swing acoustic piano from Kenny
Barron and Lewis Nash RealDrums. Together these instruments create a tight, fast rhythm section which can be paired with
existing fast solos. All of the RealTracks in set 196 have RealCharts to view the exact notation of the playing, and the styles are
great rhythm sections that you can add your own solo or a solo from a different RealTrack. If you’d like the chance to play with
Ron Carter, Kenny Barron and Lewis Nash anytime you’d like and have them on call at the click of a button, then are sure to
check out RealTracks Set 196.
RealTracks Set 197: Jazz Poll Winners 4 - Killer Bossa Rhythm Sections! RealTracks set 197 continues our “poll winners”
collection with more great rhythm section styles from master pianist Kenny Barron, legendary bassist Ron Carter, and the jazz
drummer Lewis Nash. This set is all Bossa Novas, with a medium bass groove, two options for piano (medium & slow bossas),
and a RealDrums set that features 5 tempos and multiple variations, which will cover a range of tempos from 50 to 250! Now
you can practice your soloing with these master musicians backing you up! Or, you can learn from them by viewing what
they’re playing in notation or on the on-screen fretboard (for the bass) or big piano. You can also pair this with soloists from
other sets, including Phil Woods alto sax & Gary Smulyan baritone sax from RealTracks Set 194! Any chord progression you
enter into Band-in-a-Box can be played by this killer combo, so get ready to be inspired!
RealTracks Set 198: Jazz Electric Piano RealTracks set 198 offers a collection of electric piano RealTracks that will add a
modern edge to your traditional Jazz combo. The set is comprised of two Bossa styles, two classic Jazz styles, a slow Jazz
Ballad style, and a medium tempo Jazz Waltz style for a total of six styles. They all feature Vancouver piano virtuoso Miles
Black, and each one uses sophisticated voicings and rhythms, without being too busy. And each one also has a ‘simple’
variation, which can be selected to make the style even more basic, if that’s what your Band-in-a-Box song demands. The
precise notation for these styles makes it a great learning tool. You can print out the lead-sheet, or follow along with the on-
screen notation, or view what’s being played on the on-screen piano keyboard.
RealTracks Set 199: JazzPop Piano Full of skillfully executed rhythm tracks, RealTracks Set 199 - JazzPop Piano is a
combination of laid-back styles and exciting jazz rock, perfect for your next composition. With a combination of 8 electric and
acoustic piano RealTracks included in set 198, there is a large spectrum of playing styles covered. There are EZ Listening
acoustic pianos, created to cover both Jazz and Pop chord progression. The electric vintage piano plays a relaxed style with a
warm electric piano tone. The JazzRock electric piano plays an upbeat part, and JazzySwinginPop provides a bouncy electric
piano for swing 8ths tunes. And, three of these grooves had separate ‘held’ versions recorded which play simple held chords
throughout, if that’s what your song demands. All of these RealTracks include RealCharts which can be viewed in the notation
window or on the on-screen piano keyboard. With a wide variety of feel, style, and tone, RealTracks set 199 is ready to be your
new go-to set of RealTracks when using Band-in-a-Box or RealBand!
RealTracks Set 200: New Orleans - Swingin’ Pop RealTracks Set 200 contains an energetic and unique of swingin’
country/pop styles with a New Orleans flair! It includes a full killer RealTracks band of electric bass, electric guitar, piano &
RealDrums. The groove is eclectic, upbeat, and just a little bit funky. And these RealTracks are great for mixing and matching
with our previously released swing 8ths styles. If you listen to the audio demos, you will see we’ve used these RealTracks with a

Appendix A: RealTracks Sets 399

wide variety of Band-in-a-Box soloists, from CountryBoogie guitar soloing to Dixieland clarinet soloing, so you know they will
be great for your swing 8ths tune, no matter the genre! Some of these RealTracks also have a ‘simple’ variation, which can be
selected to make the style even more basic, if that’s what your Band-in-a-Box song demands. And, the bass and guitar also
include direct input (DI) versions, so you can create your own unique tone for the instruments using amp modeling software. For
music students, you can see exactly what’s being played in notation, on the on-screen piano keyboard, or for guitar and bass,
even in TAB or on the on-screen fretboards! If you’re looking for a new sound with a touch of New Orleans spirit then look no
further than RealTracks Set 200!
RealTracks Set 201: Brent Mason Nylon & Electric Known as “the most recorded guitarist in Nashville,” Brent Mason has
become a favorite among Band-in-a-Box users, and this critically acclaimed master is back with a whole new RealTracks Set!
RealTracks Set 201 features both electric and nylon guitar RealTracks, playing both swing and even grooves. The nylon
RealTracks are “background” styles which are melodic in nature, but are less busy, allowing for a singer or soloist to play over
top. The electric guitar styles really sing and are full of uplifting energy. All styles include accurate RealCharts that not only
allow you to see all the notes in notation & TAB, but also show you exactly how it was played on the guitar fretboard. For
students, this is an indispensable tool. You can also speed them up and slow them down, making them extremely versatile, as
they can be used over a very wide tempo range. The electric guitars use Brent Mason’s signature tone, but they also have “direct
input,” or “DI” versions. This is the dry signal that was recorded directly from the guitar (before it went into his amp), which
allows you to use guitar amp modeling software to get your own killer tone!
RealTracks Set 202: Folk & Country Bouzouki Ready to feel like you’re in a Pub in Ireland, drinking in the atmosphere
which includes the bright shimmering sound of the Bouzouki? You can with RealTracks set 201. In this set you get 9
RealTracks covering a wide variety of styles, Celtic Slip Jig and Hornpipe, Country Waltz and Rock, all played by the multi-
talented Quinn Bachand. You will get some styles with an even feel, like Modern Country, Country Pop, Slow Pop, Rock, and
Slow Waltz. Other styles like Celtic Hornpipe and Celtic Slip Jig, Country Crossover and Country Swing are all played with a
swing feel. The Bouzouki has a distinct sound, a high tone, bright strings, and an acoustic timbre. When added to a song it will
certainly elicit a feeling of classic folk which can be used to give a composition a new, dynamic feel. Try some of the styles
created for this RealTracks set specifically or add single RealTracks to an existing song. With a unique sound, the RealTracks in
set 202 are versatile and ready to be played along with.
RealTracks Set 203: Country Waltz With RealTracks Set 203 you get a wide variety of solo instruments playing a country
waltz style. You get 4 Instruments in total in this RealTracks set with 7 variations. First you get the Fiddle Soloist by Andy
Leftwich, playing a laid- back waltz groove which combine eighth note and triplet runs into an amazing RealTrack. You can
also select the Bluesy variation which will treat all chords as if they were 7th chords. Next in this set is the Resonator Guitar
played skilfully by Rock Ickes. With shimmering slides and expertly played riffs, the Resonator Guitar soloist sounds great
when backed by other waltz RealTracks. You can also choose a Bluesy variation for the Resonator Guitar. The Mandolin Waltz
Soloist is also played by Andy Leftwich, combining simple eighth note phrases with melodic passages; the waltz mandolin is
perfect for a Country or Bluegrass tune. The Mandolin includes a Bluesy variation which treats all chords as if they were 7th.
The Acoustic Piano Waltz Solo by John Jarvis also sounds amazing when backed by waltz country RealTracks. This RealTrack
also includes a Bluesy variation. The final RealTracks in this set is the Rhythm piano. This Rhythm piano can be accompanying
any of the solos in this set and can be combined with other waltz RealTracks to make an amazing composition. With all the
variations available in RealTracks set 203, you won’t be searching long when you need to add a solo to your next country waltz
song.
RealTracks Set 204: Country Shuffle With four different instruments and a total of 13 RealTracks available, RealTracks set
203 is packed full of country solos, plus a killer swinging rhythm piano from John Jarvis. The Fiddle, played by Nashville fiddle
star Rob Hajacos, plays a country shuffle solo with elegant melodic phrases which, when combined with other country
RealTracks, creates a classic country sound. The fiddle can also be used as a “Double-Time” track which treats the style as
“Double-Time” at half the tempo. A “bluesy” variation is also available which allows for b7 notes in the melody to be played on
major chords. The Mandolin Soloist Country Shuffle can also be used as a “Double-Time” and a “bluesy” variation. The
Mandolin plays eighth note phrases with triplets added at times. The Resonator Guitar has a classic country sound and will add a
shimmering solo over any medium tempo song. The Resonator soloist also includes a ‘Double’-Time’ and “bluesy” variation.
The two final acoustic piano RealTracks are played by accomplished pianist, John Jarvis. One RealTrack is a soloist with the
“Double-Time” and “bluesy” option; the other is a Rhythm track. Both RealTracks have a classic acoustic piano sound,
combined with one of the best rock piano players; create a ‘must-have’ set of RealTracks. All RealTracks also include notation
so you can watch on the staff, or the piano, what the performer is actually playing. The variety and high level of RealTracks in
set 204 make this an amazing collection!
RealTracks Set 205: Country Award Winners ‐ Mandolin (Andy), Piano (John), & Resonator Guitar (Rob) RealTracks
Set 205 brings some of the best award-winning Nashville musicians to Band-in-a-Box! This set features Rob Ickes, 11-time
winner of the Bluegrass Music association’s Dobro Player of the Year award, John Jarvis, who has won CMA & ACM awards
for his unparalleled piano playing and songwriting, and Andy Leftwich, member of the Grammy-winning instrumental group
Kentucky Thunder. And now you can have these stellar musicians playing on your own Band-in-a-Box creations! This set
features laid-back ballads, slow 12-8 grooves, as well as some faster, up-tempo solos. There are 6 styles, 5 soloists, and one
rhythm piano track, and all of them blend in beautifully with our previously released RealTracks, or the built-in MIDI styles. All
of the RealTracks in this set have RealCharts included. This allows the user to follow along with the notes on the screen in

400 Appendix A: RealTracks Sets

notation, or on the on-screen piano keyboard. The world-class playing is an excellent addition to your Band-in-a-Box collection,
whether you’re using the parts in your own creations, or studying these masters to learn their style!
RealTracks Set 206: Classical String Quartet Have you ever dreamed of adding a string quartet to your Band-in-a-Box mix?
Well now you can, with RealTracks Set 206: Classical String Quartet. This set offers an extremely versatile and full-sounding
string ensemble with cello, two violins, and a viola. You can add the entire quartet as one RealTracks style with or without
reverb, or you can add any one of the instruments exclusively. Because of the subdued yet pleasantly melodic phrasing, you will
find this RealTracks set handy for anything from Country Ballads to Pop Ballads to movie soundtracks or even orchestral
arrangements. Every RealTracks style in this set has RealCharts with precise notation. If you would like to hear something new
and unique to Band-in-a-Box, be sure to give this set a listen!
RealTracks Set 207: Funky Horns This Set includes five horn section RealTracks that will wow you with their dynamic and
articulate funk arrangements. They are all incredibly versatile, adding depth to the mix of any even-feel pop, funk, soul, or bossa
song, or try them with other musical styles for something new and unique. The player uses a tastefully-spaced combination of
shots and harmonized melodies, leaving adequate space between notes for other melodic instruments or vocals. This is
especially true with the (Simple) and (Simple with Space) variations. All of these styles come complete with RealCharts with
accurate notation for learning, teaching, and sharing your arrangements.
RealTracks Set 208: Rockabilly Set 1 – Fifties Rock and Roll! You’ll be doing the twist when you hear this Rock ‘n’ Roll
ensemble at work. Set 208 includes a full rhythm section with electric guitar, acoustic piano, acoustic bass, and drums played by
outstanding musicians like Nashville legends Brent Mason and Kevin McKendree. The guitar plays steady eighth notes, the
piano plays classic Rock ‘n’ Roll licks in the right hand and keeps time in the left, the acoustic bass arpeggiates with a quarter-
note rhythm, and the drums keep a basic alternating kick/snare rhythm with airy and present cymbals. For added versatility, try
mix-and-matching these RealTracks styles with other even-feel rock and blues RealTracks. All of these styles come with
RealCharts. The bass and guitar styles also come with guitar tab. Kick out that piano bench and get ready to rock!
RealTracks Set 209: Rockin’ Blues Baritone Sax with Gary Smulyan Featuring the full-toned and sultry playing of Gary
Smulyan, these baritone saxophones will rock your socks off in more ways than one. In fact, the four included RealTracks styles
cover a wide range of tempos from 60 to 165 beats per minute. There are two background styles and two soloist styles. The
background styles are melodic without being intrusive, adding harmonic complexity to your songs without interfering with the
leading instrument. The soloist styles have tasteful melodies and licks that capture the essence of the ‘50s perfectly. Try these
saxophones with rock, blues, soul, jazz, and bossa styles for a perfect fit or with other styles for something different. Do you
want to learn, teach, or share the baritone sax arrangements that you create? No problem, all of these styles come complete with
RealCharts.
RealTracks Set 210: Motown Uptempo R & B If you want to give your arrangement a vintage vibe, look no further! This
Motown ensemble captures the feel of the early ‘70s with its tight rhythm and melodic piano riffs. Instruments include drums,
electric bass, electric piano, and electric guitar played by Kenneth Blevins, Steve Mackey, John Jarvis, and Rob McNelley
respectively. The guitar plays a combination of staccato strums and held chords while the bass plays a thumping and syncopated
eighth-note rhythm. The electric piano hits almost every eighth note, using various melodies and interesting left and right-hand
alternations. You can view RealCharts for all of these styles including tablature for guitar and bass.
RealTracks Set 211: Motown Vintage Keys and More! If you’re looking for an alternative to acoustic piano, this set is for
you. It includes two electric piano styles played by John Jarvis at 85 and 120 beats per minute. The faster style has a hard-hitting
swing feel with melodic chord inversions and comes with bass and drums to complete the “funky triplets” ensemble. The slower
style has a 12/8 time signature and will blend perfectly with your existing blues songs. Both of these piano styles can also add
new life to your existing swing-feel rock, R&B, soul, and pop songs, or try them with a jazz song for something completely
different. All of these styles come with notation data for learning, teaching, and sharing your composition. The bass also
includes guitar tab.
RealTracks Set 212: World Synths Including a total of six synthesizer RealTracks, this set is like a songwriting toolkit. It
contains compelling sounds from around the world that can be used with a variety of musical styles, from ‘60s British pop to
heavy ‘80s rock. The styles range in tempo from 85 to 120 beats per minute and all have an even subdivision. The synthesized
instruments include bass, koto, shakuhachi, flute, and two up-front leads. Transcription data is included with all of these styles
and is viewable in the notation and lead sheet windows.
RealTracks Set 213: Pop and Country, Piano and Strings Set 213 is a treasure chest of soothing and subdued piano and
strings sounds performed by John Jarvis and Miles Black. The CelticAir and CelticWaltz pianos will fit perfectly with our
existing Celtic sounds, adding new sonic depth and melodic complexity to your mix. The TexasBluesRockJohn and Blues12-
8John pianos work great with many of our existing blues RealTracks. Completing the package are three strings styles that will
add new feeling to your pop and country songs. You can learn, teach, or share notation for all of these styles thanks to the
included RealCharts.
RealTracks Set 214: Jazz Pollwinners 5 – Killer JazzWaltz Piano, Bass & Drums The fifth set in our Jazz Pollwinners
collection includes eight Waltz RealTracks styles performed on bass (Ron Carter) and piano (Kenny Barron). Jazz waltz
RealDrums by Lewis Nash are also included, with a wide tempo range of 50 to 200 beats per minute. The RealTracks
instruments come in two different tempos, a medium jazz swing at 140 beats per minute and a jazz ballad at 85. Each of these
tempos includes one rhythm piano and three acoustic basses - a held style, a walking style, and a combined style. The piano
styles have rich chord voicings coupled with gentle melodies and will blend with any jazz combo. The bass styles have a

Appendix A: RealTracks Sets 401

pronounced yet bouncy attack and a sensibly minimal amount of embellishment. All of these styles come complete with
RealCharts notation.
RealTracks Set 215: Jazz Pollwinners 6 – Sax & Guitar Soloing, Ballads & Bossas For the sixth installment in our Jazz
Pollwinners collection, we have included tons of world-class jazz and bossa solos performed by Mike Moreno, Phil Woods,
Gary Smulyan, and Eric Alexander on electric guitar and saxophone. Mike’s electric guitar playing is relaxing yet deliberate,
often sticking to a syncopated eighth-note subdivision with well-placed grace notes. A total of five saxophones are present,
including one alto, one baritone, and three tenors. You will have a saxophone soloist available for anything from rainy-day
smooth jazz to enthusiastic medium-tempo bossa. RealCharts are available for all of these styles and tablature is available for
the guitars.
RealTracks Set 216: Jazz Pollwinners 7 – Swingin’ Sax & Guitar Soloing More great solos by Mike Moreno, Gary
Smulyan, and Eric Alexander are included in Jazz Pollwinners 7. There are two electric guitar soloists, two baritone sax soloists,
and two tenor sax soloists for a total of six styles. They are all at a tempo of 140 with a swing feel, making them perfect for a
medium jazz rhythm section. Each style has a double-time alternative which will work great with your slower songs. Notation is
included with all instruments and tablature is also included with the guitars.
RealTracks Set 217: Jazz Pollwinners 8 – Jazz Waltz Sax Solos Jazz waltz soloing at its finest! An invaluable collection of
saxophone soloists awaits you in Jazz Pollwinners 8, covering all of your medium-tempo jazz waltz soloing needs. Jazz
pollwinners Phil Woods, Gary Smulyan, and Eric Alexander are responsible for three new styles on alto, baritone, and tenor sax
respectively. Two of these styles are played at 140 beats per minute while one has a laid-back tempo of 110. All three of these
styles have a different and distinct flavor of jazz soloing. Phil’s performance is playful and articulate as he experiments with
variations of patterns and runs. Gary offers melodic sensibility, well-placed accents, and seamless phrasing on his baritone. Eric
treats us with a breathy and gentle tone, performing soulful leads.
RealTracks Set 218: Rockabilly Set 2 – Jive! This set includes a full rockabilly jive band playing so fast that you’ll bet
they’re on fire! The band includes acoustic bass by Dave Roe, electric guitar by Brent Mason, and acoustic piano by Kevin
McKendree; Jive swing RealDrums are also included. A “CustomFX” version of the Brent Mason guitar is available for those
who prefer less echo. The bass uses a rhythmic slapping sound on the offbeat, creating a strong rhythm and synchronizing with
the RealDrums ride cymbal. Notation is available for all instruments, with tablature for guitar and bass. This fast-playing
rockabilly jive band will surprise you!
RealTracks Set 219: Funky Folk & More! Check out this eclectic combination of guitar, banjo, and synthesizers playing fast
jazz and medium funk. The three funk styles present a modern take on a classic sound with two synthesizers and a funky folk
acoustic guitar. The three gypsy folk instruments take a more traditional approach on rhythm acoustic guitar, soloist acoustic
guitar, and rhythm banjo. The guitar and banjo are performed by Victoria folk artist Quinn Bachand while the synthesizers are
the work of renowned pianist Miles Black. The synthesizer and guitar RealTracks come with notation. Guitar tablature is also
available for the guitar styles. Give this amazing RealTracks set a listen!
RealTracks Set 220: Flute and Saxes with Jack Stafford Jack Stafford gives us a prolific offering of jazz and bossa soloing
on three instruments in this RealTracks set. There are 8 styles in total: two on flute, five on soprano sax, and one on tenor. All of
the 140 bpm instruments are available as a double-time style in case you’re feeling experimental. There are many different feels
available too: even and swing at 140 bpm, even at 85 bpm, and swung sixteenths on the down-tempo 75 bpm soprano sax style.
Don’t forget to check out the details of your arrangement via RealCharts, which are available for all of these styles. Don’t miss
out on this lovely collection of flute and saxophone soloists performed by Jack Stafford!
RealTracks Set 221: Rockabilly Set 3 - BoomChicka! The third installment in our Rockabilly collection is a full band
playing “Boom Chicka” style at a walking tempo of 100 beats per minute. Instruments include a slapped acoustic bass, clean
electric guitar, acoustic piano, drums, and a deep (yet twangy) baritone electric guitar. The parts are played by Brent Mason,
Dave Roe, Maxwell Schauf and Kevin McKendree. As a bonus, this set also comes with an extra RealDrums style playing with
a swing feel. All of the RealTracks in this set include notation data; the bass, baritone, and electric guitars all come with
tablature.
RealTracks Set 222: Rockabilly Set 4 - Slow Swing Here is another great set of rockabilly RealTracks styles performed by
our all-star rockabilly band: Brent Mason, Kevin McKendree, Maxwell Schauf and Dave Roe. This time the band plays at a
slower tempo of 85 beats per minute with a swing feel, however you can increase or decrease the tempo to your liking. Two
basses are present, one with slapping and one without. Other instruments include an acoustic piano, an electric guitar, and
RealDrums. The piano plays a simple single-note bass line in the left hand and classic licks and trills in the right hand. The
electric guitar strums chords with a basic swing rhythm and the occasional arpeggiated chord. Notation is included with all of
these styles, as well as tablature where applicable.
RealTracks Set 223: New Orleans Mardi Gras 16ths Get ready for more classic sounds of New Orleans! This time they’re
in the form of an even-sixteenths “Mardi Gras” band playing at 170 beats per minute by default. A double-time version of all of
these styles is also included, playing at 85 beats per minute. The syncopated accents are uniform across all instruments, creating
a tight and cohesive sound. The bass has a round yet punchy tone, the clean electric guitar keeps rhythm with a combination of
staccato chords and muted strums, and the piano plays a bright and busy pattern with licks and grace notes.
RealTracks Set 224: New Orleans Shuffle This addition to our New Orleans RealTracks collection includes a full New
Orleans shuffle band playing at a moderate tempo with a swing feel. Steve Mackey plays electric bass, Rob McNelley is on

402 Appendix A: RealTracks Sets

guitar, Kenneth Blevins hits the drums, and Kevin McKendree completes the band on piano. These RealTracks work perfectly
with each other or try them with your favorite blues styles too for something new! Direct input tracks are available for the bass
and electric guitar in case you would like to use your own custom tones. Every instrument in this set comes complete with
notation and the guitars have tablature.
RealTracks Set 225: Banjo, Guitar & Bass - Hip Folk Quinn Bachand returns with more modern acoustic styles that will
enhance your country, pop, and folk songs. This set includes four RealTracks styles in total: two acoustic guitars and two
banjos. The swung-sixteenths HipFolk banjo and acoustic guitar fit together nicely and will compliment your other swung-
sixteenth RealTracks very well. In addition, there is an even-sixteenths banjo playing a melodic and consistent Celtic reel style,
which will work great with our existing Celtic RealTracks. Last but not least, a “FolkySwing” acoustic guitar plays at 110 beats
per minute with a swung-eighths feel, accenting the back beat and layering gentle melodies on top.
RealTracks Set 226: Requested Country-Pop Drum Grooves This set is a versatile collection of requested country-pop
drum grooves performed by Kenneth Blevins. The CountryPopBallad RealDrums only use cymbals and kick drum in the A
substyle, omitting the snare. The B substyle introduces the snare but keeps the rhythm simple. PopRockBasic focuses on the
quarter notes in the A substyle using the kick drum and hihat. The hihat switches to a sixteenth-note subdivision in the B
substyle but the kick drum remains the same. Finally, the TeenBeatUptempoEv16 drums play a cheery even-sixteenths pop
pattern rich with ghost notes on the snare in the A substyle and normal back-beat snare in the B substyle.
RealTracks Set 227: Brent Mason - Baritone Guitar and More! Set 227 includes a huge selection of great guitar styles by
Brent Mason! There are three distinct baritone styles that each come with a “CustomFX” version. The “CustomFX” RealTracks
styles offer a similar tone with fewer effects. The set also includes a “PopDreamy” electric guitar with a CustomFX variant, and
an acoustic nylon guitar performing a country waltz. A wide range of tempos are covered in this set, from 65 to 190 beats per
minute. The baritone guitars have a deep but biting tone and sometimes use classic effects like tremolo and reverb. RealCharts
and guitar tab are included with almost all of these styles.
RealTracks Set 228: Modern Pop with Zane Carney Zane Carney, guitarist for John Mayer, lends his hand to creating four
new, exciting, electric guitar RealTracks! The first is a Modern Pop style played with a Swing 16 feel. This guitar has a slight
overdrive added to give a little crunch to the tone; the style is a ballad with a combination of bar chords and melodic phrases
with double stops. The next RealTrack has a similar sound and tempo, but this time the feel is Even 16ths. The third RealTracks
is a slightly faster Modern Pop Swing that really showcases Zane Carney’s style. He combines chording with muted hits and
simple melodic riffs to create a one of a kind RealTrack. Finally, we have an upbeat Modern Pop Even 16 RealTracks at a
medium tempo. This RealTracks is played higher up on the fretboard of the guitar, and is a combination of chording, muted
playing, and simple riffs. All of these RealTracks have notation available which can be viewed in the Notation window. Also,
you can select a Direct Input (DI) version and a simple option in the RealTracks picker. All of these Modern Pop RealTracks
sound amazing when combined with other RealTracks; try them today and you’ll be blown away!
RealTracks Set 229: Great Pop Drums and Percussion RealTracks Set 229 is an amazing set of 12 Pop RealDrums and
Percussion instruments included all in one RealTracks Set. All of the drums played in this set are stripped down, no full kits
here, just the single instrument! There are 4 different brushes styles including: EZ Swing, EZ Swing Swirl, Pop 8ths, and Pop
8ths Swirl. These brushes are played on a snare drum with no other accompaniment added. There are 2 different shaker
RealDrums: one playing an even 8ths style and the other playing a swing 8ths style. The final 6 tambourine styles include and
even 16 and an even 8ths, a Pop 8ths and Pop swing and a swing 8ths and swing 16. These percussion RealDrums can be added
to a ‘break down’ of a song or played through the whole song. All of these RealDrums may be stripped down, but with so many
different styles and feels there is no doubt that they can find their way into your next song.
RealTracks Set 230: Surf Rock! There is an amazing collection of Surf Rock RealTracks and RealDrums in RealTracks Set
230! There are 2 Surf Rock electric guitars, one a rhythm guitar the other a soloist, played by session master Brent Mason.
There are also 2 electric bass guitars, one playing a vintage syncopated Surf Rock style, and the other playing an even 8ths Surf
Rock style. You can view the notation for each of these RealTracks in the notation window or select a simple option in the
RealTracks Picker. There are also Direct Input (DI) versions of these RealTracks available. There are 6 separate Surf Rock
RealDrums included in this set. The first style plays a double snare on beat 2 and the second style plays a double on beat 4.
There is an ‘island’ style and a ‘liquor’ style. There is also a style that accents the off beats and another style that includes just
the Toms playing blistering fast. All 6 of these Surf Rock RealDrums and the 4 Surf Rock RealTracks are included in
RealTracks Set 230 so you can start having fun creating your own Surf Rock songs with a Surf Rock band!
RealTracks Set 231: Retro Synths and Modern R ‘n’ B With this RealTracks Set you get an amazing sonic combination of
Retro and Modern R ‘n’ B Synthesizers as well as electronic RealDrums. The first RealTrack is a Retro Pop Synth Bass playing
with an even 16 feel at a slow tempo. The next RealTrack is an R ‘n’ B Modern Sub bass played at a slow tempo with an even
16 feel. The third RealTrack bass is an up-tempo version of the R ‘n’ B Sub bass. The first Synth RealTrack is a Pop Bells style
at a medium tempo with an even feel. The final synth RealTrack in this set is a medium tempo even 16 muted melody. All of
these RealTracks include RealCharts which can be viewed in the notation window. The 2 RealDrums in this set are a Retro Pop
and Modern R ‘n’ B. Both of these RealDrums have an even feel and can be used in combination with any of the RealTracks in
this set or any other RealTracks set. With a modern set of RealTracks and RealDrums, RealTracks Set 231 provides you with a
dance party at the press of a button, you’ll have no option but to have fun!
RealTracks Set 232: Pop String Quartets In RealTracks Set 232 includes an amazing String Quartet RealTrack Set made up
of two different String Quartet mixes as well as the 4 individual instruments of the string quartet as background styles, all

Appendix A: RealTracks Sets 403

playing with a pop swing feel. In the String Quartet Chamber RealTrack you get a combination of 4 single RealTrack
instruments, Cello, Viola, High Violin and Low Violin. The ‘Chamber’ style of the Quartet the mix has less reverb so the sound
replicates hearing a string quartet in a small Chamber. Also available is a ‘Hall’ mix of the String Quartet which has a more
expansive sound with more reverb. There is a simple arrangement available in the RealTracks picker for these styles; also
included is the background Cello. The low register and warm tone of the Cello make it a great background track to add a
composition. The Viola is lower in the register than a Violin so it has a warmer tone when compared with a Violin. The
background Viola plays a combination of quarter notes and eighth notes with some notes drawn out. The Violin High RealTrack
has a higher tone and plays combinations of quarter notes and eighth notes. The final RealTrack in this set is the Low Violin.
Playing in the lower register on the violin, this RealTrack would make a great background track to an existing pop swing
composition. All of these RealTracks in this set have notation available in the notation window. With RealTracks Set 232 you
get the ability to control a whole String Quartet and use the warm classical sounds any way that you like.
RealTracks Set 233: New Age Piano and More In RealTracks Set 233 there is a combination of acoustic New Age pianos
and acoustic and electric pianos playing Held Chords and backing String RealTracks. The first 6 RealTracks are all Held
acoustic and electric pianos with a wide tempo range. These RealTracks can be used in swing and even styles as they are just
long held chords. The first String RealTrack is a Celtic air, slow, even style. The second one is a Celtic Waltz even medium
tempo style. The acoustic piano RealTracks include a New Age Fast Ostinato style with an Even 16 feel, a New Age Alberti
Moody RealTrack with an even feel and medium fast tempo, a New Age Alberti Pretty style with an even feel at a medium
tempo and an even 16 New Age Answers at a medium tempo. All of these RealTracks have notation available to view in the
notation window and the Strings and New Age RealTracks have simple versions which can be accessed in the RealTracks
picker. With the Held Piano chords and unique styles of New Age music found in RealTracks Set 233, you are sure to enjoy
these RealTracks when you add them to your creative process.
RealTracks Set 234: Acoustic Bass, Back to Basics In RealTracks Set 234 you will find a wide range of Acoustic Bass Held
RealTracks. There are 8 bowed acoustic bass RealTracks playing from a ballad tempo to a medium tempo with either a slight
swing feel or an even feel. A bowed acoustic bass uses a bow across the bass strings, which allows the note to sustain for a
longer time. There is also a simple version RealTracks for each of these which is just a single note held for the entire time,
without any pickup before the chord change. The 8 acoustic bass held RealTracks are also a combination of swing and even feel
from a ballad to a medium tempo. These are played conventionally and also include a simple version of the RealTrack which
has any pickup before the held note removed. With over 16 separate RealTracks in Set 234 you will definitely find an acoustic
bass, regular or bowed, that can add a new sound to your latest composition or a previous number that was missing that certain
quality.
RealTracks Set 235: Punk! It has finally happened! We have created a complete set that has all the RealTracks you could
possibly need to create your own Punk band, all in RealTracks Set 235! There are 3 different electric guitar RealTracks: one is a
straight ahead Punk rhythm style, the second is a muted Punk rhythm style, and the third is a Punk soloist style. All of these
RealTracks are played at a fast tempo. The electric bass guitar comes with 2 different sounds, a fuzz and a rock sound. They
both have A and B substyles, picked quarter notes, and picked 8th notes, which can be used separately or within one single
RealTrack, using the A and B part markers to change the RealTrack from quarter notes to 8th notes. All of these RealTracks also
include a Direct Input (DI) version and simple versions which can be selected within the RealTracks picker. With the different
combinations of RealTracks in Set 235 you can now perform Punk music, safely, in your own home while wearing headphones.
RealTracks Set 236: Cocktail Jazz Horns! In RealTracks Set 236 we have an incredible 9-Part Horn Section playing a Big-
Band background swing style. Each of the 9 instruments in the horn section are also available as separate RealTracks. The
instruments in the horn section include a flute, two alto saxes, two tenor saxes, three trumpets and a baritone sax, all playing a
medium tempo swing part in harmony. You can combine each individual RealTrack into your own grouping and create your
own horn section. All of these RealTracks have RealCharts which can be viewed in the notation or lead sheet window. Once you
hear the horn section in RealTracks set 236 you’ll want to immediately start creating some classic Big Band swing tunes!
RealTracks Set 237: Jon Herington Jazz-Rock Guitar For the first time, Jon Herington lends his hand (and guitar) in
creating some superb electric guitar Jazz Rock soloist and rhythm RealTracks. With such an amazing guitar style and incredible
tone, you will surely want to be adding one of these 4 RealTracks to your next composition! The first RealTrack Jon Herrington
plays is a Jazz Rock even 16 soloist style, at a medium-slow tempo with some gain added to the tone; the second RealTrack is
more up tempo. Played with an even feel, this soloist has gain added to its tone and can play with either Jazz songs or Rock
songs. The final soloist RealTrack is a swinging Jazz Rock shuffle with an upbeat feel playing at a medium tempo with a little
distortion added to the tone. The last RealTrack is a rhythm style played with an even feel at a medium tempo. This clean
sounding RealTrack can also play in both the Jazz and Rock genres. All of these RealTracks have exact notation available which
can be viewed in the notation window as well as a Direct Input (DI) version which you can access in the RealTracks picker.
With 4 electric guitar RealTracks that stretch over Rock and Jazz, there are endless songs that can only be strengthened with one
of these amazing Jon Herrington RealTracks.
RealTracks Set 238: Danny Gottlieb Jazz Drums We have all RealDrums in RealTracks Set 238 from the amazing drummer
Danny Gottlieb. These Jazz and Fusion RealDrums styles are played on a full kit, and each of them has an A section and a B
section. The first two styles are Jazz Swing styles, one with sticks and one using brushes. These RealDrums have a wide tempo
range. The next two RealDrums are up-tempo Bebop styles, one played with sticks, the other with brushes. These RealDrums
are way up there in tempo, so we hope you can keep up! Next, we have a Jazz Soul even style which has a medium to fast tempo

404 Appendix A: RealTracks Sets

range. Also included is a Fusion Fast Latin which is an excellent style to have in the RealDrums collection. The final RealDrum
in this set is a slow Fusion with an even feel. All of these RealDrums are expertly performed by the amazing Danny Gottlieb.
Pick up RealTracks Set 238 today and play along with one of the greatest Jazz drummers of our time!
RealTracks Set 239: Great Funk Bass with Alex Al RealTracks Set 239 adds an amazing collection of electric bass Funk
RealTracks from the amazing Alex Al to your collection, ready to lay down the groove in your next song! The first electric bass
is playing a Modern Slap Funk with an even 16 feel at a medium tempo. The second bass is a Modern Disco style with an even
feel played at a medium tempo. The next RealTrack is a Classic Funk playing a Root Five style. The Root Five means the
playing starts on the root and moves to the fifth note of the chords scale. The next electric bass Funk RealTrack is a Soul Funk
swing style at a medium tempo. The final electric bass RealTrack in this set is an amazing even 16, up-tempo Soul style. All the
RealTracks in this set come with a simple version which can be selected in the RealTracks picker and a Direct Input (DI)
version which can also be selected in the RealTracks picker. You can also view the notation for each RealTrack in the notation
window. When you need to add a little Funk to the rhythm section of your next composition be sure to reach for RealTracks set
239 for all your Funky bass needs.
RealTracks Set 240: Straight Ahead Funk! RealTracks Set 240 includes an amazing collection of Funk RealTracks,
including electric guitars, electric basses, organ, electric piano, and drums! The first two RealTracks are a Funk Half Note Pulse
and a Funk Half Note Pulse Syncopated electric bass style both played at a medium tempo. The next three electric bass
RealTracks are Funk Pumping styles, one playing quarter notes, one playing 8th notes and one playing 16th notes - all with an
even feel at a medium tempo. Next, we have electric guitar wahwah with one a rhythm style, a single note background style, a
chording style, and another with just the sound of strings being scratched and effected with the wahwah. All of these wahwah
electric guitar styles have an even 16 feel and are at a medium tempo. The electric bass and electric guitar RealTracks also
include Direct Input (DI) versions which can be accessed in the RealTracks picker. The final two RealTracks in this set are
organ and electric piano tremolo, both playing with an even feel at a medium tempo. All of the RealTracks in this Set, excluding
the electric piano, include notation which can be viewed in the notation window. Also included in Set 240 is a large collection of
Funk RealDrums! The Funk RealDrum names include Half Note Syncopated, Half Note Pulse, Half Note Pulse Tambourine,
Funk16ths, Funk ‘70s Pop, Funk Disco, Funk Georgia, Funk Upbeat, Funk Upbeat Tambourine, and Funk Syncopated Snare.
With all of the instruments included in RealTracks Set 240 you’ll have no problem creating an amazing Funk band which can
groove out with you anytime you want.
RealTracks Set 241: Swingin’ Funk! RealTracks Set 241 adds a Swingin’ Funk band with exciting new electric bass, electric
guitar, organ, electric piano, and Funk RealDrums to your library! The electric bass, electric guitar, organ, and electric piano are
all playing a swinging sixteenth Funk style at a medium tempo. The electric bass lays down a smooth groove while the electric
guitar adds a wahwah effect to the chords it plays in the middle of the fretboard. Both the electric bass and electric guitar include
Direct Input (DI) versions which can be selected in the RealTracks picker. The electric piano has a warm, classic tone and the
organ plays swirling held chords. All of the RealTracks include RealCharts which can be viewed either in the notation or lead
sheet window. The RealDrums are all swinging Funk, and include such styles as Funk New Orleans, Funk Swing, Funk Swing
Tambourine, Funk Swing 16, and an even 16 Funk style with a slight swing. All of the RealTracks and RealDrums in Set 241
add up to one amazing swinging funk ensemble ready to play whatever you have in mind!
RealTracks Set 242: Praise Break! RealTracks Set 242 is powerful! This Set includes 7 different RealTracks and 3 different
Drum styles. First you get a basic electric bass that plays long held chords with a slight pick-up played before the chord change.
Second is an electric bass playing walking style on a 5-string bass. The third RealTrack combines these two separate RealTracks
into one RealTrack with the basic style playing the ‘A’ section and the walking style playing the ‘B’ section. Next is the Organ,
with its awesome whirling sound at sharp attack with the right hand, and long held chords with the right. The acoustic piano has
two separate parts, a basic style with long held chords and soft melodic passages before the chord change, and another where the
attack is heavier - after the held chords there is a poppy transition to the next chord. You can use these different pianos as
individual RealTracks or you can use the RealTrack which has the basic style in the ‘A’ section and the busier style in the ‘B’
section. The 3 different RealDrums are PraiseBreak, PraiseBreakHat and Praise BreakHeavy. The first two have 5 substyles to
choose from, and PraiseBreakHat has 6 substyles to select from. When all of these RealTracks are combined into a song it’s like
you’re standing in a church listening to one of the best bands you have ever heard lead you in an uplifting song that brings out
the praise!
RealTracks Set 243: Blues Baritone and Resonator Guitars With RealTracks Set 243 there are some amazing Baritone and
Resonator guitars RealTracks playing some real low-down blues. The first RealTrack is a baritone electric guitar playing a blues
shuffle with a slow tempo; the baritone guitar plays a bass part as well as blues licks at the same time. The second baritone
guitar also plays bass and licks together, but this time slightly faster with an even feel. Both baritone guitars have a Direct Input
(DI) version available in the RealTracks picker. The next guitar is a shining resonator guitar that plays an even feel blues based
on 8th note phrases. The final RealTrack is another incredible resonator guitar, this time played with a funky swing 16 feel at a
ballad tempo. You’ll be sure to find the right RealTrack to take a previously made or a brand-new blues song to the next level
with RealTracks Set 243.
RealTracks Set 244: Jazz Background Horns with Jack Stafford Looking for a smooth background Horn section playing
either a ballad or a medium tempo swing from the super talented Jack Stafford? RealTracks Set 244 is your answer! Both of the
two-part horn sections included in this set are made up of tenor and alto sax. The first RealTrack is a medium tempo horn
section playing a background swing style; the background refers to the fact that these styles are not busy and do not stick out in

Appendix A: RealTracks Sets 405

a song. They are nice harmonies between the two saxophones and blend into the background of a song. The next RealTrack is a
slow ballad two-part horn section with a swing feel. The individual instruments in each of these horn section RealTracks is also
available as a RealTrack in the RealTracks picker. If you want to hear just a background ballad tenor or alto you can select that
RealTrack and add it to your song. Each of these RealTracks also includes RealCharts which can be viewed in either the
notation window or the lead sheet window. Try out RealTracks set 244 and you’ll be adding a swinging horn section to as many
Jazz songs as you possibly can.
RealTracks Set 245: Brent Mason - Country Blues Rock and More You’ll find an amazing collection of electric guitar and
baritone guitar rhythm and soloist Country Blues and Rock styles all from the talented session great Brent Mason in RealTracks
Set 245! The first two RealTracks are electric guitar rhythm styles; one is played high up on the guitar fretboard, and the other is
played in a more standard position - together they make a powerful rhythm section! Add to this rhythm section a superb soloist
playing a Country Blues and Rock style and you have three talented guitarists playing along with your song. The soloist guitar
has notation available in the notation window. These three guitars have Direct Input (DI) options available in the RealTracks
picker. Also included in RealTracks Set 245 are two baritone electric guitars: one is a Pop Country style with an even feel at a
medium tempo and the other is a Country Workin’ style with an even 16 feel at a slightly slower tempo. Both of the Baritone
guitars have Custom FX RealTracks that can be selected in the RealTracks picker. RealTracks Set 245 offers some amazing
playing from Brent Mason which you can enjoy when you create your next Country, Rock, or Blues song!
RealTracks Set 246: Classic Country Piano with John Jarvis RealTracks Set 246 includes four unique Country “Bent-
Note” acoustic piano RealTrack from legendary player John Jarvis. “Bent-Note” refers to the style of playing which frequently
uses grace notes into the third of the chord, closely as possible emulating the sound of a guitar bending notes. This style of
playing was made popular by the great Nashville pianists of the ‘50s & ‘60s and it’s performed expertly by John Jarvis. The first
RealTrack is an acoustic piano Country ballad even style; this is a laid-back style which sounds amazing when combined with
similar RealTracks. The next three RealTracks are all Country “Bent-Note” swinging acoustic piano styles but at slightly
different tempos. The tempo range starts at a slow ballad but increases all the way up to a fast tempo. You can view the
RealCharts for all of the included acoustic piano RealTracks in the notation window or the lead sheet window. These acoustic
piano RealTracks all sound amazing when combined with other Country RealTracks and have a playing style which has not
been available before as a RealTrack. Choose RealTracks Set 246 today, and you can have the amazing John Jarvis play your
song while you sit at your computer!
RealTracks Set 247: Country Brushes and Percussion RealTrack Set 247 is all RealDrums! A versatile selection of brushes,
shakers, and tambourines laying down a simple beat are included! There are four different brushes styles, all just a simple
brushes and snare, no full kit used here! The first two styles are Boom Chick styles; one an even 16 style, the other a slow swing
16 style. The next two brushes play a folk style; one an even 16th style, the other a swing style. All of the brushes styles include
an A and B section with separate grooves for each. These are great for laying down a simple rhythm track in a stripped-down
Folk song. Next, we have three shaker RealDrums: one a Celtic even 16 style, one a Folk even 16 style, and finally a Folk swing
16 style. Also included are two tambourine styles: one a Celtic even 16 style, and another train even 16 style. All of these
RealDrums can be used through an entire song or they also sound great when added to a breakdown section of a song. With
RealTracks Set 247 you get a wide range of sounds and grooves which you can experiment with whenever you feel like creating
your own sound!
RealTracks Set 248: Oberkrainer! Folk Music from the Alps For the first time ever, we are bringing you Oberkrainer
RealTracks! The Folk music of the Alps! The Oberkrainer sound originated in Austria but since has moved to many different
areas of the Alps where this unique style of music is immensely enjoyed. The instruments included in this folk style of music
include the accordion, acoustic guitar, and a horn section made up of baritone horn, clarinet, and trumpet. The first seven
RealTracks all have the same feel, starting with accordions playing an “Old World 2 Beat” style, and an “Old World 2 Beat
Held Plus” style. Next, we have an acoustic guitar playing the “Old World 2 Beat” style; the horn section playing in this style
can be selected as a RealTrack with all three instruments at once or you can select the baritone horn, trumpet, or clarinet to play
as a single instrument track. All of these RealTracks are at a medium fast tempo and are played with an even 16 feel. The next
seven RealTracks are an “Old World Waltz” style and are played at a fast tempo. These instruments include two accordions, one
playing the style straight and one playing a held plus style. Also played in this style is an acoustic guitar and a horn section of
clarinet, baritone horn, and trumpet. This horn section can be played all together or each instrument individually. When all of
the separate instruments are combined into a classic Oberkrainer chord progression you will be blown away by the accuracy of
the sound and your ability to control your own band with your keyboard and mouse.
RealTracks Set 249: Old Time Folk RealTracks Set 249 includes some down home “Old Time” Folk RealTracks like the
banjo, acoustic guitar, and fiddle. These RealTracks sound amazing when combined in a song and some of them, like the
acoustic guitar “Folk Sorrow,” stand out on their own. The first RealTrack is the banjo clawhammer playing and even 16 “Old
Time” style at a medium tempo; the clawhammer refers to a unique style of picking used on the banjo. Also included are three
acoustic guitars, one a “Groovin’ Folk” swing 16 style, another an even 16 “Old Time” style, and then the “Folk Sorrow” style
also with an even 16 feel. The final RealTrack is a soloist fiddle playing a Celtic Reel style with an even 16 feel at a medium
tempo. All three of the acoustic guitars and the fiddle have RealCharts available which will show you the exact notation for each
RealTrack. You can view the notation in the notation window or the lead sheet window or see what is being played on the guitar
in the guitar window. RealTracks Set 249 has such a variety of instruments and grooves, there is no doubt that you’ll be having
hours of fun creating your own “Old Time” Folk songs!

406 Appendix A: RealTracks Sets

RealTracks Set 250: Rockabilly Swing With RealTracks Set 250 we offer a swinging Rockabilly electric guitar, acoustic
piano, and drums like you have never heard before! The electric guitar is a rhythm style from the amazing session artist Brent
Mason. It’s an up-tempo swinging Rockabilly style with a classic Rockabilly tone, echo and reverb, with some amazing licks
played as well. The acoustic piano plays a swinging Rockabilly style with lots of classic Rockabilly phrases of 8th notes and
triplets. You can see the RealCharts for these RealTracks in the notation or lead sheet window. You can also watch what’s being
played on the piano in the Piano Window and see the guitar on the fretboard in the Guitar Window. The RealDrums in this set
are playing a swinging BoomChicha style which fits perfectly with the RealTracks in this set. There are six RealDrums variation
made into 15 different substyles to choose from in the RealDrums picker. Get ready to use RealTracks Set 250 to create some
vintage sounding songs in a Rockabilly style!
RealTracks Set 251: Traditional Celtic Percussion RealTracks Set 251 is all RealDrums! That’s right… an entire set of
RealDrums playing all traditional Celtic percussion utilizing the bodhran and the spoons! Each RealDrums groove is included
on both bodhran and spoons. These include the Polka, Slide, Reel, Slow Reel, Jig, HornPipe and Slip Jig. Each of these styles of
music has its own unique feel, like the Polka which is a two-beat style, or the Slide which is in 12/8 time. Try combining these
RealDrums with other Celtic RealTracks and you will have your own Celtic group before you know it! If you want to create
some traditional Celtic music and you need your own personal rhythm section, look no further than RealTracks Set 251.
RealTracks Set 252: Modern Country Pedal Steel RealTracks Set 252 includes an amazing assortment of Pedal Steel
playing a variety of Modern Country background styles. The first RealTrack in this set is a “Dreamy” even 16 pedal steel
playing at a slow tempo. The next RealTrack is a “Pop Country” style with an even feel at a medium tempo. Next, we offer a
ballad “Atmosphere” pedal steel played with an even 16 feel; A “Crossover” swing 16 pedal steel, which is at a medium to slow
tempo, depending on the other instruments you accompany with. The final RealTrack included is an up-tempo waltz style with a
swing feel. All of these RealTracks include RealCharts which can be viewed in the notation or lead sheet window. The included
Direct Input (DI) versions can be selected in the RealTracks picker. Since all of these pedal steel RealTracks are “background”
styles, they sound best when added to a song when another layer of sound is required that won’t distract from the overall song.
Start experimenting with RealTracks Set 252 and you will truly be amazed at the sound possibilities!
RealTracks Set 253: Country Fingerpicking with Joe Robinson There is an incredible collection of acoustic guitar
RealTracks by the amazingly talented Joe Robinson in RealTracks Set 253! All of the different styles have a high and a regular
performance, which are selected as separate RealTracks. The first style is a slow swinging waltz acoustic guitar with a high and
a regular RealTrack. The next style of playing is a Nashville swing style at a medium slow tempo, both high and regular
versions. Also included is a BoomChick style that has an even 16 feel at a medium tempo and these also come in a high and
regular. Finally, there is a slow BoomChick swing style that has both a high and regular part; you can select “Simple” versions
of the BoomChick RealTracks in the RealTracks picker. This removes any embellishment from the playing when the RealTrack
is generated. All of these RealTracks include RealCharts which can be viewed in the notation window or the lead sheet window.
Plus, you can follow along on the fretboard in the guitar window. Joe Robinson is such a skilled guitar player, and we are
incredibly fortunate to capture his performances for RealTracks set 253!
RealTracks Set 254: 12-key Hi-Q-Tab Brent Guitar, 12-key Eddy Pedal Steel and 12-key Mike Piano We are excited to
introduce two new features in this RealTracks set - 12-key instrumentation and Hi-Q notation! This one-of-a-kind set features
the talents of Mike Rojas, Brent Mason, and Eddy Dunlap! 12-Key instrumentations are recordings of all instruments in all
twelve keys! This improves the quality of audio by removing the need to transpose these RealTracks digitally. What you hear is
exactly what was recorded in the studio! Hi-Q Notation offers improved notation functionality for the Guitar and Pedal Steel
RealTracks, which provides accurate transcriptions of bends, slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs and more! This also allows
transcriptions that are easier to read and learn! Including Brent Mason on Guitar, Mike Rojas on Piano, and Eddy Dunlap on
Pedal Steel, each suitable for any genre! These Tracks also include Direct Input for both Guitar and Pedal Steel so you can
sculpt your own tones! Add this definitive set of RealTracks to your collection today!
RealTracks Set 255: Amazing Modern Pedal Steel RealTracks Set 255 adds 4 new pedal steel RealTracks to your library,
with exciting modern sounds! These RealTracks will sooth your soul! With Eddy Dunlap performing on each RealTrack, this
collection ranges from warm, sunny sounds to cool breezy passages. There is a “dreamy” Country ballad, and a “George” style
that will mellow your mood, and a spacious and somber sounding RealTrack that’s great for a relaxing day. Finally, we have an
upbeat jam with crunchy and crisp tones that is perfect for those long drives! These RealTracks contain many slower riffs and
long pedal steel passages, excellent for accompaniments! Each RealTrack was recorded with the artists unique tone, but each
one also has a “Direct Input” option, allowing you to create your own sound! Combine these with other styles to get some
incredible results!
RealTracks Set 256: Brent Mason Nylon Guitar Named one of the “Top Ten Session Guitarists of All Time,” Brent Mason
takes the spotlight on this RealTrack set! Featuring warm tones and clean picking rhythms, this easy to listen to collection of
nylon guitar will be a classic set for years to come. Each RealTrack contains sweet picking tones to Classic Country riffs and
more! There are 8 RealTracks included with this set, each with their own unique playing style. The performances in RealTracks
Set 256 are diverse ranging from ballads, contemporary Country, and Waltz styles. Add Brent Mason to your collection today!
RealTracks Set 257: A Taste of Peru Straight from the streets of Peru, these ethnic Peruvian RealTracks styles are the
worldly sounds you’re looking for! These RealTracks include a wide range of authentic instrumentation including ethnic
percussions such as Cajon, Cowbell, Quijada, and Castanets! his RealTracks set also features nylon, and bass guitars, played
traditional Latin American rhythms! Get your ticket and explore these new Peruvian sounds today!

Appendix A: RealTracks Sets 407

RealTracks Set 258: Latin America Take a trip to the island of Puerto Rico with this traditional Latin American RealTracks
Set! These 9 RealTracks are dedicated to exploring traditional Latin American music! A variety of styles are available from
sweet 16th picking on nylon guitar to genuine walking bass lines that will keep you tapping your toes! Featuring instruments
like Maracas, Guiros, Chajchas, Charango, Bongos, and more! Add these authentic sounds to your RealTracks collection - Don’t
miss this fiesta!
RealTracks Set 259: Old Time and Celtic Enjoy the hearty sounds of Celtic instrumentation with RealTracks Set 259! This
includes 6 diverse RealTracks with influences in Polka and Folk! The different rhythms include Ev16s, Swing, and Triplets
shuffle. The tempos range from slow ballad-type to galloping upbeat rhythms. This Celtic RealTracks set also includes acoustic
guitars, piano, and even an auto harp! Be sure to add this to your collection today!
RealTracks Set 260: Celtic Harp Become entranced listening to thecaptivating, and magical serenades of Sharlene Wallace,
one of Canada’s most influential harpists! You’ll lose yourself in the symphonic melodies of the Celtic styles, Waltzes, even
16ths, and classic jigs in this elegant RealTracks set. Add this golden award-winning harpist to your RealTracks collection
today!
RealTracks Set 261: Sounds of Hawaii Aloha! Discover paradise with the Hawaiian sounds of RealTracks Set 261! This
collection of Hawaiian swing RealTracks features traditional ukelele and pedal steel, which are perfect for that laid-back island
vibe. The pedal steel also comes with a Direct Input option so you can create your own tones! Sit back with the soothing Sounds
of Hawaii!
RealTracks Set 262: Great Country Drums with Shannon Forrest Add the sound of one of Nashville’s finest session
drummers to your studio! If you listen to country radio, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of drummer, Shannon Forrest.
Shannon has built a reputation as a session ace and is constantly in demand by chart-topping artists! This exclusive set includes
five RealTracks in various rhythms including driving pop 8ths, modern styles, pop 16ths, and more! Add Shannon Forrest to
your collection today and get access to one of the best session drummers in the industry!
RealTracks Set 263: Songwriter’s Guitar and Cello Toolkit Looking to add more variety to your collection? Look no
further! The Songwriters Guitar and Cello Toolkit is here! This versatile set offers eleven new RealTracks including rhythms,
backgrounds, finger-picking, resonators, and even a soloist! The diversity of this RealTracks set is phenomenal for any genre
including Classical, Folk, Soft-rock and more! Get inspired, pick up your copy of this incredibly well-rounded collection today!
RealTracks Set 264: Crooner Bossa Big Band! Our popular Crooner styles are back and are included in RealTracks Set 264!
These smooth background Bossa RealTracks help set the mood for a sophisticated evening. This includes a stylish variety of
elegant Jazz horns including tenor, alto, baritone, muted trumpets and more! RealTracks set 264 is played with an Even feel
style. Shaken or stirred, get these Classy Crooner Bossa Horns in your collection!
RealTracks Set 265: Crooner Ballad Big Band! Crooner styles are back by popular demand in RealTracks Set 265! This Big
Band Ballad influenced set will soothe your soul. Included are a grand range of smooth horns such as alto saxophone, flugel
horns, tenor saxophone, trumpets, and more! Float away with all twelve tracks, each of them played in traditional Jazz swing.
RealTracks Set 265 is excellent for any project, listen to our demos and find out for yourself!
RealTracks Set 266: Jazz & Funk Potpourri RealTracks Set 266 features a wide variety of great jazzy & funky RealTracks.
It includes such diverse RealTracks as jazz waltz soprano sax, rockabilly jive guitar soloing, and dixieland banjo! There are also
exciting funk RealDrums, and tango piano. And, to top it off we’re including 2 “12-key” jazz guitar comping styles. These
RealTracks were recorded in all 12 keys, so there is no digital pitch shifting of the audio, which means the audio quality will be
pristine no matter what key your song is in!
RealTracks Set 267: More Blues: Blues with Brent and Mike It’s all about the Blues with RealTracks Set 267. What else
would you expect when you put Brent Mason and Mike Rojas in a room together? Brent solos over the Blues in every which
way – he swings, he shuffles, he plays it straight. Several of these RealTracks are in 12/8, and because of Brent and Mike’s
versatile playing, this means you now have a huge variety of guitar solos at your fingertips, not to mention piano rhythm tracks
that run the gamut from gentle acoustic piano accompaniments to dirty and distorted organ licks. This is a huge set of fifteen
RealTracks – any Blues musician would do well to add these killer recordings into their collection.
RealTracks Set 268: Gypsy: Accordion, Piano, and Guitar This is a set of wonderful Gypsy Jazz RealTracks in the modern
tradition, with piano, nylon-string guitar, and accordion all swapping between rhythm and lead duties. There’s a set of world-
class musicians here, with the likes of guitarist Quinn Bachand, pianist John Jarvis, and accordionist Cory Pesaturo all going to
work. Lovers of Gypsy Jazz will find much of interest here, with more sprightly runs and dimished-scale phrases than they can
shake a stick at. The six RealTracks in this set can be twisted and shaped into the user’s most far-out Gypsy Jazz desires and
leave plenty of room for Reinhardt roleplaying as well!
RealTracks Set 269: Smooth Soul with Brent and Mike Set 269 offers eight smooth RealTracks that feature the guitar
playing of Brent Mason with Mike Rojas on keys. These are some real slow burners that will please musicians who are trying to
craft their own masterpieces. Mike and Brent play in perfect unison, offsetting subtle wah guitar with a straight-ahead acoustic
piano progression or ducking around a driving organ riff with a classic single-coil rhythm guitar sound. Brent’s solos here are
exploratory and rewarding and mix wonderfully with Mike’s confident right-hand comping.
RealTracks Set 270: Modern Pop Waltz, 8ths, & 16ths with Zane Carney This is an awesome set of feel-good guitar
RealTracks played by the ever-impressive Zane Carney. If you’re looking for strong rhythm guitar tracks played at the same
caliber that he gives to some of the greatest musicians in the world, these Pop Waltz RealTracks are for you. A versatile set of

408 Appendix A: RealTracks Sets

both straight-ahead and swung 8th and 16th note rhythms make this a must-have for Pop afficionados. Direct Input recordings of
all the RealTracks in this set allow you to control the tone – it’s like having Zane Carney in your band!
RealTracks Set 271: House and More Get the party started with Tropical House RealTracks Set 271! Featuring twelve
RealTracks of synthesizer glory, these upbeat nightlife sounds of Ibiza will keep you dancing all night long! Set 271 Includes
synthesizer leads, bass lines, piano, and organic percussion lines! All accompanied with a thumping kick drum designed to
rumble the room! Don’t miss out on this exciting set. All of these are in even time signatures and will combine well other
RealTracks - great for coming up with new ideas!
RealTracks Set 272: Rap and Hip Hop RealTracks Set 272 offers twelve distinct RealTracks dedicated to Rap and Hip-Hop!
These includes chest rattling bass drums, sizzling hi-hats, cracking snares, earth shaking sub basses, synthesized strings, and
more! Each of the RealTracks are in common time and will work well with any RealTracks Sets you already have. Experiment
with these to come up with great new ideas! Don’t miss out!
RealTracks Set 273: Hard Rock Shuffle This Hard Rock shuffle set is guaranteed to get you jamming in no time! RealTracks
Set 273 is here bringing eleven RealTracks of content filled with crunchy guitars, groovin’ rhythms and catchy riffs! This set
includes medium tempo to pedal to the metal RealTracks, influenced from British Hard-Rock, Punk, and more! RealTracks set
273 also supports Direct Input functionality giving you full control of the guitar tone! Ready to cruise the highway? Pick up
RealTracks Set 273 today!
RealTracks Set 274: Hard Rock Straight Ahead Coming straight out of the jukebox, RealTracks Set 274: Hard Rock
Straight Ahead is here! Includes fourteen (Yes fourteen!) RealTracks of thrash guitar riffs, moving bass-lines, edgy guitars and
expressive progressions. You won’t want to miss out on this set. All the RealTracks are recorded in even time and the tempo
ranges from mid to fast. All influenced by 70s Rock, Grunge, and more! Listen to some of demos’ - you won’t be disappointed!
RealTracks Set 275: Retro 60s Drums Bring back the classic 60s drum sound to your studio with RealTracks Set 275!
Influenced by the classic rock era of the 60s, set 275 brings a range of different rhythms, best suited for Surf Pop, Mo-Town,
and Rock-n-Roll! It has both even and swing feels, along with upbeat tempos throughout each of the RealTracks. This collection
includes big bass drums, popping snares, airy hi-hats, and sizzling’ tambourines! Great for any project involving percussion!
RealTracks Set 276: Pop Percussion RealTracks Set 276 offers a wide variety of popular percussion instruments including
Agogo bells, Bongos, Congas, Tambourine and more! Most of the RealTracks in this set are played in even style, making it a
great option to give your percussion tracks the final touches it needs. Add these seven RealTracks to your library today!
RealTracks Set 277: Pop and Rock Drums with Shannon Forrest Get access to one of the most accomplished session
drummers from Nashville: Shannon Forrest! Set 277 includes eleven RealTracks in a variety of drum styles from Pop Rock to
Modern Pop Ballad. This is one set you do not want to miss! The feels between each of the RealTracks are mixed between even
and shuffle, making RealTracks Set 277 an excellent fit for any project that demands professional drumming!
RealTracks Set 278: Shiny Vocal Oohs & Aahs! For the first time ever, you can generate backing vocals in Band-in-a-Box
with amazing “oohs” and “aahs” vocal arrangements! Included with RealTracks Set 278: Shiny Vocals Oohs and Aahs, is a
three-part, six-voice arrangement – which you can use all together in your song or individually for more delicate textures! The
male and female parts were recorded by renowned Nashville vocalists David Wise and Shelly Justice. Check out some demos to
discover the possibilities!
RealTracks Set 279: Americana - Slow Groovin’ 12-8 & 16ths One of our most frequent requests has been authentic
“Americana” styles, and with this new set, we’ve provided! With RealTracks Set 279: Americana: Slow Groovin’ 12-8 & 16ths
you’ll find bass, guitar, and fiddle parts played by authentic Americana artists – straight from the heart of Nashville! With this
RealTracks Set, you’ll be able to create tracks for your songs played by the incomparable Byron House, Brent Mason, Colin
Linden, Andy Leftwich, and Bryan Owings! With built-in RealCharts, you’ll be able to follow along with notation and guitar tab
– an invaluable learning tool for any musician!
RealTracks Set 280: Americana - Gritty Blues & Rockabilly Swing Looking for a faster tempo Americana vibe with a
throwback feel? RealTrackss Set 280: Americana - Gritty Blues & Rockabilly Swing is just what you need! This set features
Nashville session musicians Byron House, Brent Mason, Colin Linden, and Mike Rojas playing acoustic bass, electric guitar,
piano, and drums for two complete bands! Want to follow along with the pros? No problem - with the RealCharts notation and
guitar tabs built into the tracks, it’s never been easier!
RealTracks Set 281: More 12-key Hi-Q-Tab Brent Guitar, 12-key Eddy Pedal Steel, 12-key Mike Piano, and 12-key
Byron Bass With RealTracks Set 281 we’ve added to our 12-key collection of RealTracks with exciting new Guitar, Pedal
Steel, Electric Bass, and Piano styles! With many other RealTracks, they are not recorded in all 12 keys, but the missing keys
are provided with automated pitch shifting. With these 12-key RealTracks, they were recorded in all 12 keys. This means that
there will never be audio degradation from pitch shifting, and it also means that from a learning perspective you can always be
confident that what you’re hearing is exactly what the musician played. And, it includes some of the world’s top session players,
including Brent Mason on guitar, Eddy Dunlap on pedal steel, Mike Rojas on piano, and Byron House on electric bass!
RealTracks Set 282: Country Songwriter - Guitar & Keys Have lyrics scribbled down but still searching for the perfect
country sound to create your song? In RealTracks Set 282: Country Songwriter - Guitar & Keys you’ll find the acoustic guitar,
piano, and organ tracks you’ve been dreaming of! With both swing 8ths and even 8ths styles recorded in a variety of tempos,
Brent Mason (guitar) and Mike Rojas (piano) have created the perfect rhythm tracks for any country blues or country folk song
you can imagine! Experiencing writers block? Have a listen to these RealTracks demos to find some inspiration!

Appendix A: RealTracks Sets 409

RealTracks Set 283: Jelly-Roll Country Harmonica The name says it all! Looking for an authentic and soulful harmonica
background for your country song? RealTracks Set 283: Jelly-Roll Country Harmonica includes six Kirk “Jelly Roll” Johnson
harmonica RealTracks – recorded in both even and swing feels and fast and slow tempos. Complete with built in RealCharts,
you’ll be able to see notation for the track and follow along as Jelly Roll Johnson plays his harmonica over any chord
progression you enter!
RealTracks Set 284: “Canadiana” Old Time Guitar, Banjo, and Foot Stompin’ Introducing the sounds of The True North,
strong and free! RealTracks Set 284: “Canadiana” Old Time Guitar, Banjo, and Foot Stompin’ includes ten acoustic guitar,
tenor banjo, and foot stomping drum tracks. Recorded with Victoria, British Columbia talent, Quinn Bachand, these tracks are
sure to bring you back to your childhood and get you up on your feet!
RealTracks Set 285: Celtic Piano & Harp Sit back and be transported to another time and place as you experience a blend of
traditional Celtic jigs with a modern, folky twist. RealTracks Set 285: Celtic Piano & Harp includes eight Celtic acoustic piano
tracks by Dave Milligan and three classical and folk inspired harp tracks by Sharlene Wallace. Recorded at various tempos and
in both even and swing feels, these tracks are the perfect addition to any Celtic jig, reel, or polka!
RealTracks Set 286: Pop & Rock Guitars with Brent & Joe We’ve added more pop and rock RealTracks with two of
Nashville’s finest musicians: Joe Robinson and Brent Mason! RealTracks Set 286: Pop & Rock Guitars with Brent & Joe
features two electric guitar soloists and three acoustic guitar rhythm tracks. The soloists were recorded specifically geared
towards the beginner musician, with simple, but very tasty licks. The rhythm acoustic guitars are great songwriting tools, and
sound great used by themselves or in a band mix!
RealTracks Set 287: Pop Songwriter - Acoustic Guitar When was the last time you were sitting by the fire - wishing you
had an acoustic guitar to map out the song that just popped into your head? With RealTracks Set 287: Pop Songwriter - Acoustic
Guitar you have all the tools you need to turn that idea into a pop song reality. This set contains six acoustic guitar tracks from
three exceptional Canadian musicians – Fintan O’Brien, Quinn Bachand and Colin Linden! With both notation and guitar charts
built into every track, you can quickly learn your new song and play it for your friends at the next marshmallow roast!
RealTracks Set 288: Southern Pop Drums with Land Richards Every good Soul or RnB record needs a drum part you can
really groove to. In RealTracks Set 288: Southern Pop Drums with Land Richards you’ll find seven different drum variations
sure to get your audience swaying. Whether it’s a slow building jam or a faster tempo southern groove you’re looking for, world
renowned session musician Land Richards has you covered! Check out the demos below to get a feel for everything this set has
to offer!
RealTracks Set 289: Fretless Bass, Pop Keys, and Punk Drums This set features an eclectic mix of different RealTracks for
different purposes. We’ve added 3 new fretless bass styles playing a variety of pop grooves. In addition to that, there is a
plethora of pop piano and organ styles from Nashville great Mike Rojas. And, to round out the mix, we’ve added two exciting
new Punk RealDrums, which work great with our previously released Electric Guitar and Bass Punk styles!
RealTracks Set 290: More Pop Percussion Singles Are you looking for that perfect percussion instrument to add the final
touches to your song? RealTracks Set 290: More Pop Percussion Singles adds even more percussion instruments to our current
library. Play along as in-demand session percussionist Jim McGillveray delivers a variety of shakers, congas, cowbells,
tambourines, and woodblock!
RealTracks Set 291: Modern Dancehall RealTracks Set 291 features electronic RealTracks instruments with roots in
Jamaican culture: Modern Dancehall. This set features a band of electronic drums and various synths, with percussive and
spacey tones that will transport you! There are 9 RealTracks in this set, as well as various combinations of A-B variations.
RealTracks Set 292: Klezmer! Explore the unique and traditional celebratory music style of Eastern Europe – Klezmer!
You’ll rediscover polka with these nine accordion, bass, guitar, and drum tracks. For this set we called in the experts! Check out
the demos to see how Cory Pesaturo (accordion), Neil Swainson (acoustic bass), Quinn Bachand (acoustic guitar), and Terry
Clarke (drums) navigate this high energy, fast tempo style!
RealTracks Set 293: A Taste of Europe - France, Italy, and Sweden These tracks will make you feel like you’re floating
through Venice in a gondola, sipping Champaign at a French delicatessen, or tasting micro-brew at a Stolkholm festival.
RealTracks Set 293: A Taste of Europe - France, Italy, and Sweden takes you on a European adventure – with fourteen
accordion, guitar, bass, and drum tracks from the incredibly talented Cory Pesaturo, Quinn Bachand, Neil Swainson and Terry
Clarke!
RealTracks Set 294: Big Band “Crooner Shout” Soloist! Some of our most popular recent RealTracks have been our
exciting “Crooner Big Band” RealTracks, and with RealTracks Set 294 we’ve expanded this with our “CroonerShout”
RealTracks. In Big Band music, the “Shout Chorus” is an arranged solo featuring harmonized instruments. With these
RealTracks, that’s what you get: intricate soloing with all of the big band instruments harmonized! It features arrangements that
utilize two alto saxes, two tenor saxes, flute, baritone sax, and 5 trumpets! And, the individual instruments can be used on their
own as well as in the context of the entire ensemble.
RealTracks Set 295: Jazz Potpourri with 12-key Guitar, Jazz-Soul Piano, Jazz Strings, and Percussion Who doesn’t love
a little musical potpourri? In RealTracks Set 295: Jazz Potpourri with 12-key Guitar, Jazz-Soul Piano, Jazz Strings, and
Percussion we give you nine jazz strings, guitar, piano, and percussion tracks to spice things up! This set features a lush
background strings pad, electric guitar jazz comping with Oliver Gannon, Mike Rojas playing piano, and Jim McGillevray and
Alex Acuna on the percussion.

410 Appendix A: RealTracks Sets

RealTracks Set 296: Modern Jazz Bass & Drums Requested by our loyal customers, RealTracks Set 296 features a set of
modern jazz basses & RealDrums. It features even styles such as a 16ths groove, a Latin ballad style, and a jazz8ths style, as
well as a slow jazz ballad bass with tasty, sparse lines. With a duo of jazz greats like Neil Swainson (acoustic bass) and Terry
Clarke (drums), how could you go wrong?
RealTracks Set 297: More Smooth Jazz & Fusion Can you ever have enough Smooth or Fusion Jazz? We certainly don’t
think so – here are 10 more tracks to expand your library! With RealTracks Set 297: More Smooth Jazz &Fusion you’ll discover
a world of silky bass tracks from Neil Swainson, fusion piano styles from Jeff Lorber,and smooth brushes and fills from Terry
Clarke and Jim McGillevray! You’ll also find RealChart notation to help you learn, teach, and share your new song.
RealTracks Set 298: Mariachi! Hold onto your sombrero, the Mariachi band is here! For the first time ever, we’ve released
authentic Mariachi RealTracks in RealTracks Set 298: Mariachi! To ensure a true Mariachi flavour, we’ve recorded traditional
vihuela tracks along with nylon guitar with guitar sensation Ramon Stagnaroand as well as guitarron (a Latin American bass
instrument) from the incredibly talented Juan Jimenez. Don’t miss out on these one-of-a-kind RealTracks!
RealTracks Set 299: Rootsy Blues Guitar & Piano Get ready to shuffle, slide, sway, and shake with the tracks included in
RealTracks Set 299: Rootsy Blues Guitar & Piano. This set includes three guitar and two piano tracks. The folk blues guitar is
played by non-other than virtuoso Brent Mason, while the blues and ragtime guitar tracks are played by the renaissance man
himself - Colin Linden. Add in Mike Rojas on piano and it’s a rootsy blues trio that’s hard to beat!
RealTracks Set 300: Smokin’ Fast Jazz Bass Ready to take it up a notch? In RealTracks Set 300: Smokin’ Fast Jazz Bass,
Neil Swainson speeds to first place with this incredible collection of seven acoustic bass RealTracks that even the most
proficient bass players would be in awe of! Want to try and keep up? The tracks all have built in RealChart notation to help you
learn the parts!
RealTracks Set 301: Modern Funk with Bob Lanzetti, Mark Lettieri, Sput Searight, Keita Ogawa and Alex Al This set
of 10 Realtracks features 4 instrumentalists known for their contributions to the popular jazz fusion band Snarky Puppy.
Additionally, this set includes 2 funky bass RealTracks from the great Alex Al, past keyboardist and bassist for Michael
Jackson. Together, these musicians are currently some of the most prominent and hip jazz fusion and funk instrumentalists
worldwide. Besides the 4 RealTracks of rhythmically precise guitar work by Mark Lettieri and Bob Lanzetti, percussionist Keita
Ogawa and drummer Robert “Sput” Searight partner up to create a wall of complex and intricate layered funky syncopations.
RealTracks Set 302: A Taste of Brazil with Alex Acuna & Ramon Stagnaro This RealTracks set features two nylon
acoustic guitar RealTracks played by the acclaimed Peruvian guitarist Ramon Stagnaro. Additionally, The RealDrum variations
on bossa and samba grooves in this set are played by Peruvian Alex Acuna, who is renowned for his collaborations with
Weather Report, Chick Corea and Wayne Shorter. In this set, Alex Acuna takes us from the traditional laid-back feel
characteristic of bossa nova, to the quick, yet light touch of samba rhythms.
RealTracks Set 303: Blues Harmonica with LD Miller Wondering what to use in the solo section of your rock or blues
song? Look no further with these 10 harmonica soloist RealTracks that work extremely well with previously released rock and
blues RealStyles, particularly our past Texas style rock and blues RealTracks collection. Gifted for his authentic blues sound on
the harmonica, LD Miller is best known for touring with his family in the Clayton Miller Band of whom has shared the stage
with Stevie Wonder, B.B. King, Joss Stone and Alicia Keys, among others!
RealTracks Set 304: Blues Shuffle Horn Section Give your blues song an extra edge with tenor saxophone or trumpet horn
arrangements! These 4 RealTracks, played by arranger and horn player Jim Clark, work great as background tracks to add
another layer to your instrumentation, especially when combined with previously released Blues RealStyles. You can use the 3
single instruments RealTracks individually, and have either just tenor saxophone or trumpet to accompany the band, or you can
combine all three in with the RealTracks “Horn Section, Background BluesShuffle Sw 130” to get a fuller sound. Jim Clark,
who has shared the stage with legends such as Dizzy Gillespie and Billy Taylor, is likely to take your song to the next level with
these tastefully crafted hornlines.
RealTracks Set 305: Funky Acoustic Guitar with Colin Linden and Joe Robinson This RealTracks set includes 3 acoustic
guitar RealTracks that are likely to stun listeners given the world-class performances of Canada’s Joe Robinson and Collin
Linden from Australia. Whether you are looking for a driving feel, or one more relaxed, both “Guitar, Acoustic, Rhythm
TrainBluesColin Ev16 090” and “Guitar, Acoustic, Rhythm TrainFunkyJoe Ev16 130” are beautifully accentuated by our
previously released trainbeat RealDrum tracks. Wanting something with a more varied and funky twist? Joe Robinson’s “Guitar,
Acoustic, Rhythm SwampyFunkJoe Ev16 110” provides a nice alternative to the more straight-ahead trainbeat pulse.
RealTracks Set 306: Tango and More! Out of the 6 RealTracks included in this set, the bass, accordion and acoustic guitar
RealTracks, when combined together, brilliantly provides the authentic and spicy flavour of Tango. On accordion, the virtuosic
Cory Pesaturo is featured, who is the youngest person to ever receive the National Accordion Championship in the United
States. His mastery over the instrument allows him to deliver numerous genres with incredible finesse as demonstrated in this
Tango collection. Additionally, Canadian legend Terry Clarke’s new versatile modern jazz waltz RealTracks can be used to
beautifully reimagine numerous previously released waltz RealStyles.
RealTracks Set 307: World Guitar, Percussion, and more with Alex Acuna & Ramon Stagnaro This wide-ranging
collection features RealTracks performed by Peruvian guitarist Ramon Stagnaro on quatro, vihuela, and nylon guitar, as well as
Juan Jimenez on the guitarron. To support these RealTracks, this collection comes with 6 RealDrums tracks recorded by the
accomplished Alex Acuna, who has collaborated with many of the greats spanning a great diversity of genres, such as Chick

Appendix A: RealTracks Sets 411

Corea and Joni Mitchell. From mariachi, to joropo, to rumba, this dynamic array of world inspired RealTracks yields a
comprehensive combination of options for those interested in Latin American and African influenced music.
RealTracks Set 308: Djembe and more with Keita Ogawa What makes the percussion and djembe RealTracks in this
collection so appealing, is not just the superb performance by Snarky Puppy member, Keita Ogawa, but the versatility they
offer. Looking for an additional layer to support and expand the instrumentation of your Bluegrass tune? Folk? Reggae? Cool
Jazz? Out of these 7 RealDrum tracks, there are surely grooves that will fit perfectly, while adding a fresh and worldly spin to
your song.
RealTracks Set 309: More Blues with Sol Philcox It doesn’t get more funky and bluesy than young Sol Philcox’s wailing
guitar tone. This is a must-have RealTracks set for the electric guitar enthusiast who finds enjoyment from tasty licks and rich
distortion. Still yet to reach the height of his career, Sol Philcox continues to tour arena’s around the world and enchant
audiences with artists such as Sugarland, Jason Aldean, and Miranda Lambert. Finding inspiration from Brent Mason, Philcox
strives for versatility and a deep understanding of modern popular music. To get the full Sol Philcox experience, use the
included rhythm RealTracks and soloist RealTracks together when combining other previously released RealStyles.
RealTracks Set 310: Acoustic and Electric Guitar Pop Soloists with Brent Mason One of the largest collections of the
award-winning Brent Mason to date, this RealTracks set includes an impressive 14 diverse acoustic and electric guitar soloist
RealTracks, ranging from rhythm and blues, to pop ballads, to waltzes. The genius and finesse of Brent Mason is now applicable
to a larger variation of previously released RealStyles than it ever was! Whether it be the earthy sounds of Americana, the laid-
back swagger of rhythm and blues, or the ease of a pop tune, Brent Mason is now by your side to always deliver an
overwhelmingly soulful guitar solo.
RealTracks Set 311: Cinematic Electric Guitar with Darin Favorite Have you been looking for a more atmospheric use of
the electric guitar for your Band-in-a-Box repertoire? This collection is for you! These 4 RealTracks use the delay, heavy
reverbs and the stoic phrasing you have been craving. Grammy-nominated, and Nashville based producer Darin Favorite
performs these unique RealTracks with a mellow and seasoned discernment. These RealTracks are perfect for adding depth to
previously released power ballads and soft-rock waltz RealStyles.
RealTracks Set 312: A Taste of Europe 2 Within an instant, this RealTracks set will fill you with tinges of European
romanticism. Included are 3 beautifully executed accordion RealTracks performed by the virtuosic Cory Pesaturo. Additionally,
a waltz folky acoustic guitar RealTracks is performed by Canadian multi-instrumentalist Quinn Bachand, of which pairs
perfectly with “Accordion, Rhythm EuropeanFolkWaltzCory Sw 140.” Also, try pairing Cory Pesaturo’s accordion RealTracks
in this set with previously released Waltz and Swedish themed acoustic guitar RealTracks by Quinn Bachand for more beautiful
combinations!
RealTracks Set 313: More Klezmer! With 12 new RealTracks, this set will significantly expand your Klezmer Band-in-a-
Box catalogue! Once again, the prodigy Cory Pesaturo delivers a masterful performance of gypsy, romanian hora dance music,
and other Klezmer inspired musical traditions. Included in this set are bass, acoustic guitar and drum RealTracks made in
conjunction with “Accordion, Rhythm Klezmer44Cory Ev 130” and “Accordion, Rhythm KlezmerHora34Cory Ev 120.”
Featured on bass is legend Neil Swainson. On guitar is the great multi-instrumentalist Quinn Bachand hailing from Vancouver
Island, and on Drums is Torontonian and jazz legend Terry Clarke. While also fitting well with previous Klezmer releases, this
RealTracks set has all you need for a full-sounding Klezmer experience!
RealTracks Set 314: Pop Acoustic Bass & Accordion Straight forward and flawlessly performed, these RealTracks are
appealing for their simplicity. Performed by Byron House, the included 6 acoustic bass tracks are perfect for building a strong
foundation for an endless combination of previously released Realtracks. Likewise, the clarity and consistency of Cory
Pesaturo’s accordion RealTracks provide a nice pad and endless possibilities for combining with previously released RealTracks
RealTracks Set 315: Rock & Grunge Acoustic Guitar Raw, powerful, and performed with the utmost confidence, Canadian
Quinn Bachand gives you 4 extremely adaptable Realtracks that span a wide tempo range from 60 to 160. Like always, Quinn
Bachand manages to capture the full potential of the acoustic guitar in his performance, with tasty, clean and full sounding
voicings. This is the perfect RealTracks set for adding an acoustic flavour to previously released driving rock and grunge
RealStyles.
RealTracks Set 316: More Southern Pop Drums with Land Richards Land Richards brings you 4 brand new Southern Pop
RealDrums tracks in this collection! The energy and vibe of each differ greatly, providing a wide range of possibilities for
combining with other RealTracks. Try using the sidestick variation of “SouthernPopSw16^” with previously released smooth
pop and soul RealTracks to create a happy, easy-going pedestrian sound. Or if you want something completely different, go with
“TexasRnBShuffle^” with previous releases of bluesy distorted electric guitar RealTracks!
RealTracks Set 317: Guitar and Piano for Songwriters, with Brent Mason, Mike Rojas, Fintan O’Brien & Quinn
Bachand This set features 6 RealTracks perfect for accompanying the singer-songwriter with an assortment of different finger-
picking guitar patterns, including muted sixteenths and waltzes. Additionally, this set includes 2 folky piano RealTracks
performed by Mike Rojas for those looking for a complimentary texture for the acoustic guitar.
RealTracks Set 318: Campfire 12-String and 6-String Guitar Gather round the campfire and start a sing-a-long! This
collection features a whopping 20 Realtracks, making it our largest collection of Quinn Bachand RealTracks to date! With so
many to choose from, including tempos spanning from 60bpm to 180bpm, swinging waltzes, and 12/8 feels, there is bound to be
a guitar rhythm RealTracks that fits your acoustic vision.

412 Appendix A: RealTracks Sets

RealTracks Set 319: Amazing Modern Pedal Steel 2 with Eddy Dunlap Nashville based multi-instrumentalist Eddy Dunlap
is back with 3 new background pedal steel guitar RealTracks! Either choose Dunlap’s gritty and distorted tone to embellish your
rocking track, or add a sensitive touch to your pop tune with the alternative beautiful and reverby RealTracks “Pedal Steel,
Background PopEdgySwells Sw16 080.” In addition to 3 fresh and exceptional pedal steel RealTracks, this set includes an
acoustic guitar soloist RealTracks with a heavy use of slides, delay and reverb. Both extraordinaire Eddy Dunlap, and virtuoso
Brent Mason bring us amazing expression in this exciting RealTracks set!
RealTracks Set 320: Chicken Pickin’ with Johnny Hiland! This chicken pickin’ is really swingin’! Few can keep up with
the speed and skill of Johnny Hiland on the electric guitar, especially when it comes to chicken pickin’. This set includes 3
soloists RealTracks, each packed with endless licks guaranteed to wow listeners during a solo section. To get the most out of
this western swing sound, try mixing with previously released bluegrass, country and trainbeat RealTracks!
RealTracks Set 321: Americana Fiddle & Mandolin with Andy Leftwich Our Americana catalogue continues to grow! In
this set, Andy Leftwich brings you 8 RealTracks that will take your americana aesthetic to the next level. With 2 soloist and 2
rhythm mandolin RealTracks that match perfectly with another 2 accompanying fiddle background RealTracks, your americana
band has never sounded fuller! Also included are another 2 slower and delicate mandolin rhythm RealTracks guaranteed to
serenade audiences. For more combinations, try mixing and matching these new additions with our previously released
americana RealTracks!
RealTracks Set 322: Americana Folk 6:8, with Brent Mason, Andy Leftwich, Eddy Dunlap, Bryan Owings, and Byron
House Packed full of shuffles, 6/8 grooves, and waltzes, this massive set of 25 RealTracks provides endless possibilities for
mixing and matching to get the perfect combination of RealTracks for your americana vision. Use Andy Leftwich’s beautiful 5-
string fiddle long tones and chopping to bring your waltz to life. Or use some of the 6 additional mandola background and
rhythm RealTracks and 6 background resonating guitar RealTracks to give your song a cohesive depth. With Brent Mason’s 6
RealTracks contributions on electric guitar, a 12/8 RealDrum track by Bryan Owings, and Bryon House holding it down on
bass, this RealTracks set has everything you need to deliver a full americana waltz or 6/8 experience.
RealTracks Set 323: Americana Folk 8ths & 16ths, with Brent Mason, Andy Leftwich, Eddy Dunlap, Bryan Owings, and
Byron House An impressive 22 RealTracks in this set will keep you busy! With so many options to choose from, the potential
and variation of these americana feels and paces will undoubtedly inspire your creativity. On the washboard and tambourine is
Jim McGillevray with 4 RealTracks adding authenticity to your americana aesthetic. Together, with Bryan Owings on drums
and shakers, this collection has all you need for your folk drum and percussion section. Additionally, Brent Mason brings you 2
electric guitar Realtracks, as well as a melodic background style and fingerpicking patterns on the nylon acoustic guitar. To fully
complete your band, try using Andy Leftwich’s gorgeous mandola and fiddle background RealTracks!
RealTracks Set 324: Americana Keys and Resonator Guitar with Mike Rojas and Eddy Dunlap Looking for some more
instrument diversification in our growing americana catalogue? This collection is for you! While Eddy Dunlap brings us a large
assortment of background RealTracks on the resonating guitar, Mike Rojas brings us 2 organ and 2 vintage electric keyboard
RealTracks. All together, this set will round out your choices for your slower, heartfelt americana backing tracks. For something
quick and different, this RealTracks set also includes the “Guitar, Resonator, Background RockabillyLicksEddy Sw 190”; the
perfect RealTracks to compliment the busy licks of previously released rockabilly styles!
RealTracks Set 325: Celtic Cello with Natalie Haas Nothing is as emotional or gets to the heart like the cello does. In this
exciting RealTracks collection, Canadian Natalie Hass, one of the most in demand traditional Celtic cellists today, does just that.
Included are 10 RealTracks, with an additional 2 variations, that feature chopping patterns and background styles in which
Natalie plays beautiful flowing melodies. Appropriate for jigs, reels, waltz’s, or a Celtic spin on a pop tune, Natalie has got you
covered on the cello!
RealTracks Set 326: Celtic Nylon and 12-String Guitar with Quinn Bachand Hailing from the west coast of Canada,
Quinn Bachand is back doing what he does best! These 6 RealTracks feature Quinn’s, bright feel, resonate tone, and tasteful
voicings that are irresistible for the lover of rootsy Celtic music. Delivered with effortless mastery, Quinn Bachand brings us
hornpipe, jig, and reel styles on both the 12-string acoustic guitar and the nylon acoustic guitar. Try combining the 6 and 12-
string acoustic guitar RealTracks for an expansive and full Celtic sound!
RealTracks Set 327: Celtic Fiddle, Banjo, Guitar, and Mandolin Soloists with Andy Leftwich and Quinn Bachand Have
a solo section that needs to be filled in your Celtic tune? This RealTracks section has all that you need while providing you with
a fantastic diversity of instruments to choose from. Both masters, banjo player and guitarist Quinn Bachand, and Andy Leftwich
on the mandolin and fiddle will surely inspire you with these 8 soloist RealTracks. This collection is a goldmine of creative
melodies and licks that is firmly grounded in traditional Celtic music.
RealTracks Set 328: Gospel Low Vocal Mmms We are excited that Band-in-a-Box continues to grow its vocal RealTracks
with this collection! Included are 14 vocal mmm’s background RealTracks that fit with a 12/8 based groove. Choose to have just
a single baritone, bass, or tenor voice accompany you. Or, you can choose to use doubles in any of the sections for a thicker
sound. Lastly, choose “Vocal Mmms, Rhythm RockNRollGospel12-8 4-part Sw 065” if you want the full gospel vocal
experience!
RealTracks Set 329: Fusion and Gritty Funk with Jeff Lorber, Alex Acuna, Alex Al, Mark Lettieri, Sput Searight, and
Keita Ogawa RealTracks Set 329 continues our collection of exciting jazz-rock-funk fusion from some of the greatest
musicians from both coasts! In this set, we have new RealTracks from bassist Alex Al, guitarist Mark Lettieri, and keyboardist

Appendix A: RealTracks Sets 413

Jeff Lorber, as well as legendary drummer/percussionist Alex Acuna, modern funk drum master “Sput” Searight, and
percussionist extrordinaire Keita Ogawa. In addition to that, this set also comes with many RealStyles that use these RealTracks,
combining them with some of our existing jazz and funk styles from previous releases.
RealTracks Set 330: Lounge JazzFunk with Jeff Lorber, Alex Al, Bob Lanzetti, Mark Lettieri, Sput Searight and Keita
Ogawa Lorber, Alex Al, Bob Lanzetti, Mark Lettieri, Sput Searight and Keita Ogawa”. This set features eleven new
RealTracks & RealDrums from these amazing musicians. This set features three electric guitar styles, 2 RealDrums kit styles, 2
RealDrums styles with kit and added percussion, 1 bass style, and two electric piano styles. In addition, it also includes a
“RealTracks first:” analog synth soloist. This soloist can be used in combination with the other RealTracks from this set, and can
also be used with many of our previously released RealTracks. It also comes with many “RealStyles” that utilize these
RealTracks & RealDrums in a variety of musical settings.
RealTracks Set 331: Latin America with Alex Acuna, Wes Little, & Keita Ogawa, drums and percussion, Brian Allen
Bass RealTracks Set 331 features brand new exciting Latin RealTracks and RealDrums, with upbeat grooves such as
Merengue and Soca. Included are styles by Fusion legend Alex Acuna on drums, as well as percussionist Keita Ogawa, and
drummer Wes Little. The bass grooves are provided by Nashville great Brian Allen, and we also have two Soca guitar grooves
from Mike Durham. As with all RealTracks, these can play over ANY chord progression you enter into Band-in-a-Box, in ANY
key!
RealTracks Set 332: More Blues with Johnny Hiland and Sol Philcox This RealTracks Set features the great Sol Philcox
and Johnny Hiland, both bringing you their expressive distorted guitar tone, laid-back phrasing and bluesy spirit. Included are 2
soloist RealTracks by each, and an additional rhythm RealTracks from Sol Philcox to perfectly compliment “Guitar, Electric,
Soloist BluesPopSlow16thsSol ev16 065.” For more amazing results, try combining these RealTracks with previously released
shuffle and slow sixteenth RealTracks!
RealTracks Set 333: Rhythm Changes Comping and Soloing with PJ Perry (Sax), Miles Black (Piano), Oliver Gannon
(Guitar), and Neil Swainson (bass) Including 8 superb RealTracks, this set is the jazz enthusiast’s dream by allowing you to
play alongside some of Canada’s most acclaimed jazz musicians. Saxophonist PJ Perry has shared the stage with Aretha
Franklin, Ray Charles, and Dizzy Gillespie. Miles Black has worked with Max Roach and Lee Konitz, and continues to be
Vancouver’s “first call” for those seeking jazz piano. Juno award-winning guitarist Oliver Gannon has been named “guitarist of
the year” by the Canadian National Jazz Awards. Finally, Torontonian Neil Swainson, who has played with Woody Shaw,
Sonny Stitt and Tommy Flanagon, is one of the most acclaimed upright bass players on the scene. For the best results, try using
these RealTracks as an aid for practicing traditional jazz repertoire that commonly use parts and variations of rhythm changes.
RealTracks Set 334: Jazz Blues Changes Comping and Soloing with PJ Perry (Sax), Miles Black (Piano), Oliver Gannon
(Guitar), and Neil Swainson (bass) All highly-acclaimed Canadian legends, shedding your jazz blues changes has never been
more enjoyable! Packed full of licks and variations, this RealTracks collection is sure to keep your interest for hours upon hours.
Playing on alto and tenor saxophone, PJ Perry’s RealTracks gives you the opportunity to work on your comping behind one of
the best traditional jazz soloists around. Likewise, take a solo over Swainson’s beautifully embellished walking bass lines and
Black’s or Gannon’s inventive comping style. With 8 RealTracks containing the brilliance of world-class jazz musicians to
practice or perform with, the inspiration is endless!
RealTracks Set 335: Rootsy Funk and More with Alex Al, Bob Lanzetti, Sput Searight and Keita Ogawa These players
know how to funk! With Sput Searight on the kit and Keita Ogawa on percussion, this collection of RealDrums will give you
everything you need for rootsy funk, 70’s funk rock and busy New Orleans snare drum patterns. In addition to using these
RealDrums with this set’s included electric bass RealTracks by Alex Al, and the electric guitar RealTracks by Bob Lanzetti, try
using these RealDrums with previously released funky RealTracks for satisfying grooves. For example, try mixing Sput’s funk
rock drumming with Alex Al’s past slap bass RealTracks. Guaranteed, these irresistible combinations will funkify all listeners.
RealTracks Set 336: Bossa Horn Section - BossaLounge and Pads with Jim Clark Composer, producer and educator Jim
Clark will take your Bossa Nova grooves to the next level with this collection of 8 horn and woodwind RealTracks. These
background RealTracks will never distract, but add the perfect layer of pads and subtle horn lines to further evoke relaxing
lounge vibes. The choices span a great diversity of instruments, from flugelhorn, to flute, to alto and tenor saxophone, to muted
trumpet. Want a thicker sound? Use the included 2 and 3 part horn section pad RealTracks!
RealTracks Set 337: Island Grooves - Steel Drum, Marimba and more! At PG Music, we are excited to continue
expanding our catalogue of world instruments. This collection, featuring marimba and steel drum RealTracks, will take your
imagination to the warm beaches and the turquoise coloured water of the Carribean. Besides the 2 steel drum soloists and
rhythm RealTracks, as well as a rhythm marimba RealTrack, this set includes 2 RealDrum tracks, 1 electric bass, and 1 electric
guitar rhythm RealTracks. While these 7 RealTracks work great together, try combining the new marimba and steel drum
RealTracks with previously released reggae tracks as well!
RealTracks Set 338: Classic Guitars 1 - British Classic Rock and Blues Rock As a longtime session player in the Nashville
music scene, Mike Durham is best known for his work with the Dave Matthews Band, Tim McGraw, and Big & Rich. All your
electric guitar needs for a classic British rock and blues sound are met with this collection. For each of the 4 rhythm RealTracks
in this set, comes an accompanying soloist RealTracks to wow listeners during the solo section of your song. In this package of
chopping rhythms, held and arpeggiated chords, shuffles, and amazing guitar solos, you will receive the gritty magic and
distortion characteristic of British rock’s heyday.

414 Appendix A: RealTracks Sets

RealTracks Set 339: Classic Guitars 2 - Hazy 60s Mike Durham is back with 5 rhythm and 3 soloist electric guitar
RealTracks reminiscent of the 60’s rock sound. Hazy, lazy, and psychedelic, these RealTracks take you back to an era wrought
with a mixture of sensitive and distorted guitarwork. A dynamic collection, these RealTracks cover a wide range of intensity.
For those looking for laid-back guitar work on their ballad, Mike has got you covered with “Guitar, Electric, Rhythm
HazyBallad ev16 070.” Need something slightly more energetic and funky? Try “Guitar, Electric, Rhythm HazyFunky Ev16
090” alongside “Guitar, Electric, Soloist HazyFunkyWah Ev16 090.”
RealTracks Set 340: Classic Guitars 3 - British Psychedelic Rock Including 9 electric guitar RealTracks performed by Mike
Durham, a fixture in the Nashville music scene, this collection brings you a great variety of slow psychedelic ballads, hard rock
solos, and adaptable guitar work with delay, suitable for pop rock sensibilities. The possibilities with this collection are endless,
given that British psychedelic rock influence never goes out of style. Discover the enormous potential of these RealTracks by
combining them with previously released RealTracks in styles ranging anywhere from country blues, to power pop, to funk rock
to smooth ballads.
RealTracks Set 341: Cinematic Metal with Darin Favorite In this RealTracks set, Darin Favorite’s guitar work brings us a
new spin on our growing catalogue of metal styles. The huge and long-lasting reverb in his background RealTracks “Guitar,
Electric, BackgroundSoloist MetalRiffingDarin Ev16 080,” and thick distortion used on “Guitar, Electric, Rhythm
MetalLowChuggingDarin Ev16 080,” together create a massive sonic range. Combine with previously released metal RealDrum
tracks, turn up the volume and revel in this cinematic experience!
RealTracks Set 342: Singer-Songwriter Guitar, Mandola, Fiddle, Banjo and Drums RealTracks Set 342 is an excellent
addition to our existing RealTracks and RealDrums geared towards the creative world of songwriting. This set features 6 new
acoustic guitar styles, 4 banjo styles, as well as mandolin, mandola, 5-string fiddle and a folky sw16 RealDrums style. The
guitars and banjos in this set are mellow but sophisticated, giving you a great base for your compositions. The mandolin style in
this set is a “tremolo” soloist, which is great for adding colour to your tracks. The fiddle and mandolin are both “Folk Rock ‘n’
Roll” grooves, which are great for a really rootsy take on classic Rock ‘n’ Roll. Finally, the FolkModernSw16 RealDrums style
is an excellent rootsy take on a sophisticated groove.
RealTracks Set 343: All Ska! Classic and Modern This RealTracks Set gives you both classic and modern forms of ska
influence. Punk out with fast driving ska distorted electric guitar, or take things easy with the classic offbeat accent
characteristic of ska feel. Nashville’s top recording instrumentalists Brian Allen and Mike Durham hold down the bass and
electric guitar, while the adaptable Wes Little gives us 5 diverse RealDrum tracks for all your ska needs! This is a must have for
those looking to expand their collection of reggae and ska influenced RealTracks.
RealTracks Set 344: Cool Swing16 Gospel Vocals with Piano and Drums! Band-in-a-Box’s catalogue of vocal RealTracks
continues to grow with this exciting RealTracks Set! These 9 gospel RealTracks are extremely versatile and great for adding a
gospel tinge to countless previously released RealTracks. Additionally, these vocal RealTracks come with variations so you can
mix and match its elements as you please. Want just a single high voice? A double low part? How about all 3 parts together? All
these options are available to you with this impressive sounding release!
RealTracks Set 345: Bluesy Baritone with Brent Mason Brent Mason rocks the baritone guitar in this dynamic collection of
8 RealTracks. Now you can bring the fantastic low resonance and texture of the baritone guitar to your instrumentation on soft
pop ballads, speedy rockabilly licks, and swampy blues. Check out Brent’s “Guitar, Baritone Electric, Soloist
SwampyBluesTalkBoxBrent Ev 095” for his special appearance on the talkbox - a fresh and gritty approach to blues guitar!
Aside from 7 baritone guitar RealTracks, many with included variations, Brent Mason is also featured on a soloist standard
electric guitar RealTracks with a wicked tremolo. There is plenty to play with in this unique collection of RealTracks!
RealTracks Set 346: Old-Time Music 1 - Happy Dance Lively, homey and sure to get people on their feet, this RealTracks
Set will bring you back to the good ol’ days in the countryside! Add a previously released RealDrum track and this well-
rounded set of 6 RealTracks will give you all the instrumentation you need for a full sounding band to get the dance party going!
Included is upright bass played by Toronto legend Neil Swainson, acoustic guitar played by Vancouver Island’s Quinn Bachand,
and banjo, fiddle, and mandolin tracks performed by the talented multi-instrumentalist Andy Leftwich.
RealTracks Set 347: Old-Time Music 2 - Mountain, Momma’s Prayer and More Another expansion to americana related
RealTracks, this collection continues to diversify the options for rootsy folk music! Multi-instrumentalist Andy Leftwich gives
us a comprehensive array of strumming, long tones, and pizzicato style of playing on the 5-string fiddle. Also included are
another 5 RealTracks on the mandola, banjo and mandolin. As a nice compliment to 10 Andy Leftwich’s RealTracks, Quinn
Bachand is back again on the acoustic guitar with 2 RealTracks, as well as 2 RealTracks with Neil Swainson holding it down on
the upright bass.
RealTracks Set 348: Old-Time Music 3 - Old Time Waltz For those looking for more old-timey waltzes, this packed
collection will surely satisfy with a generous set of 10 RealTracks! The talented Andy Leftwich is back once again, showing off
his skills on an impressive diversity of instruments, from banjo, to fiddle, to mandolin. Backed by Neil Swainson on upright
bass and Quinn Bachand on acoustic guitar, Andy’s background soloist RealTracks on the fiddle and mandolin are particularly
captivating in this exciting new collection!
RealTracks Set 349: Celtic Guitar, Bodhran & Jaw Harp with Quinn Bachand Authentic, emotional, and majestic, this
RealTracks set is another must have for the Celtic musician. When accompanied by the included Bodhran RealDrum tracks,

Appendix A: RealTracks Sets 415

Quinn Bachand’s beautiful acoustic guitar playing could not sound any more gorgeous! Among its 15 RealTracks, this set
includes 6 RealTracks on the jaw harp; a unique and hypnotic tone that will add a level of authenticity to Celtic songs.
RealTracks Set 350: Country Rock and Ballad Soloing with Johnny Hiland Both options in this RealTracks duo set are an
endless flow of expressive licks with a touch of reverb and distortion for a truly satisfying tone. Make your ballad sing with
“Guitar, Electric, Soloist CountryBalladJohnny Ev 085” that features Nashville staple Johnny Hiland’s beautiful electric guitar
tone. Or set Johnny free on your more uptempo country tunes with “Guitar, Electric, Soloist CountryRockJohnny Ev 140.”
RealTracks Set 351: Country Pollwinners 1 - Americana 16ths with Brent Mason, Fred Eltringham, and Steve Mackey
This RealTracks Set is a must have for lovers of country and americana music. This collection features some of country music’s
best pollwinner instrumentalists on the Nashville scene. Featured on electric guitar and electric baritone guitar is the
extraordinaire Brent Mason with 3 rhythm, 1 background and 1 soloist RealTracks, some of which include tremolo, delay,
reverb, and tasteful distortion. On electric bass is Steve Mackey with 3 RealTracks, each containing distinct A and busier B
section variations. Providing 2 RealDrum tracks is Fred Eltringham with funky whip brushes and americana 16ths on sticks.
These RealTracks work great together, however try combining with previously released americana and country pop ballad
RealStyles to unlock their versatile potential.
RealTracks Set 352: Country Pollwinners 2 - Nashville Radio Power Ballad Jimmy Carter on electric bass and the award-
winning Danny Radar brings you 4 RealTracks in this collection. Try them all together with some slower pop, rock or thrash
RealDrums for the perfect power ballad worthy of radio play! Additionally, while sounding great as a standalone collection, try
mixing and matching these adaptable RealTracks with previously released sets! “Bass, Electric, NashvilleRadioBalladAB Ev16
075” will surely work with most pop styles, while “Guitar, Electric, Soloist NashvilleRadioBalladDanny Ev16 075” will sound
great over any rock ballad!
RealTracks Set 353: Fusion Soloing, Lowdown Blues, and more with Brent Mason This collection features legendary
Nashville guitarist Brent Mason on 9 new RealTracks. The compelling tone, virtuosic vocabulary, and refined musicianship
makes this package a must have. It features 2 amazing Fusion/Smooth-Jazz soloists, which work great with out existing
RealTracks collection, as well as a slow blues soloist with a cool wah-wah effect. Also included in this collection are 6 Rhythm
RealTracks; 2 bluesy rock rhythm RealTracks, a down to earth “LowdownBlues” distorted electric guitar and baritone electric
guitar, and a moody 12/8 feel guitar track with an accompanying baritone guitar background RealTrack. The two “bluesy-rock”
rhythm guitars also feature a cool new effect that we have never used before in Band-in-a-Box, a rotary effect that gives the
guitar a sound similar to a vintage organ.
RealTracks Set 354: Minor Jazz Blues Changes Comping and Soloing with PJ Perry (Sax), Miles Black (Piano), Oliver
Gannon (Guitar), and Neil Swainson (bass) Along with “rhythm changes” and “jazz blues,” Minor Jazz Blues is one of the
most common progressions in jazz, and is one that most teachers will agree is very important to master for a jazz student.
RealTracks Set 354 continues our series of RealTracks sets specifically designed to work well with this particular sub-category
of jazz music. While these RealTracks do work like others, in that you can enter ANY chord progression in ANY key, when
minor blues progressions are entered, you will find more varied, interesting results with these RealTracks. This set includes 6
Soloists, with alto sax & tenor sax featuring Juno Award-winning musician P.J. Perry, guitar by Order of Canada recipient
Oliver Gannon, Miles Black on piano, and Neil Swainson on upright bass. There are also then comping RealTracks on piano,
guitar and bass as well.
RealTracks Set 355: New Age Piano with Miles Black This set of RealTracks features the elegant playing of Canadian jazz
legend Miles Black. On these tracks, his understated and delicate touch simultaneously brings out the powerful full range of the
piano, allowing the sustain of the lower and mid frequencies to sing. This set includes 5 RealTracks, consisting of arpeggiated
chording, new age waltz, and driving 8ths. Also included is “NewAgeSlowBluesy” that provides a jazz feel to the collection’s
New Age theme. Given its tasteful simplicity and emphasis on tone, this collection of RealTracks is likely to make any modern
pop song shine.
RealTracks Set 356: Modern Jazz & Funk with Jeff Lorber In this collection, pianist/keyboardist Jeff Lorber is back with 8
new RealTracks expanding Band in a Box’s repertoire of Modern Jazz and Funk styles. The discreet comping of
“ModernJazzJeff” and “ModernJazzWaltzJeff” offers clever harmonic support and can be combined perfectly with past even
8ths Jazz RealTracks. Additionally, this set includes 3 funk bass synth RealTracks, that lock in with Jeff Lorber’s 3 new
accompanying vintage electronic RealDrums. While, in their entirety, these new funky drum styles combine well with Band-in-
a-Box’s past Funk and Smooth Jazz RealTracks, the Realdrums included in this collection allows you to use single aspects of
the groove. Only want the hi-hat from “ElecFunkJeff” to combine with a past style? Now you can!
RealTracks Set 357: World Music: Nanigo & Cascara RealTracks Set 357 features beautiful new world rhythms and styes
featuring the imcomparable Ramon Stagnaro on nylon guitar, as well as Nashville based drummer/percussionist Wes Little, and
Toronto acoustic bassist Neil Swainsson. The styles include the African Nanigo, a 6:8 polyrhythmic groove, as well as the
“Carcara” rhythm, a versatile style that’s used in Salsa, Bossa Nova, Samba, and other Afro-Cuban styles. In addition to all of
these styles, you also get RealDrums “singles,” which are all of the individual percussion instruments that make up the full
RealDrums styles. So, for example, you can select JUST the bongos from the Cascara, or just the Congas from the Nanigo style,
making them very versatile, and great for genre crossovers!
RealTracks Set 358: World Music: Partido Alto, Beguine, and More! RealTracks Set 358 adds to our ever expanding
collection of World Beat grooves and styles, with 2 new guitar RealTracks with LA master Ramon Stagnaro, new bass
RealTracks with Nashville-based electric bassist Brian Allen as well as Toronto acoustic bassist Neil Swainsson, and 4 new kit

416 Appendix A: RealTracks Sets

and percussion RealDrums by master Wes Little. The styles include Brazilian “Partido Alto,” an offshoot of Samba, as well as
the Beguine, a popular dance style similar to the tango. We’ve also included new bass styles for “RumbaFlamenca,” intended to
work well with out other previously released guitars and percussion. In addition to all of these styles, you also get RealDrums
“singles,” which are all of the individual percussion instruments that make up the full RealDrums styles, which are incredibly
useful, not just for these world-beat styles, but for ANY styles you want to add them to.
RealTracks Set 359: Slack Key Guitar with Brent Mason RealTracks Set 359 features the sweet sounds of Hawaii, with 6
new “Slack Key” RealTracks. This distinctive guitar style features a laid-back fingerstyle approach with open tunings. There are
3 “rhythm” or “chording” styles, as well as 3 soloist styles that complement the rhythm styles with beautiful melodic phrases.
All of these were made with legendary guitarist and RealTracks stalwart Brent Mason. In addition to these 6 RealTracks styles,
it also comes with many “RealStyles,” which pair these RealTracks with other previously released RealTracks, so all you have
to do is pick the RealStyle you like, enter any chord progression in any key, and you’ll have these beautiful Hawaiian sounds
playing your song!
RealTracks Set 360: Classic Guitars 4 - “Dublin Pop” This gorgeous blend of electric rhythm guitar RealTracks inspires the
nostalgia of modern pop coming out of Ireland in the 80s and 90s. 9 electric guitar RealTracks are included in this collection,
with 3 additional variations which give other rhythmic options for the same RealTracks. The epic tone, delay, and reverb on
these chopping and arpeggiated electric guitar RealTracks are made complete with the emotional scream of the background
RealTracks “DublinPopMagSpacey,” to create a classic larger-than-life Pop-Rock sound.
RealTracks Set 361: Classic Guitars 5 - “90s Grunge” Your options for the Grunge Rock sound have never been more
complete with this new collection of 12 electric guitar RealTracks! In this collection there are 10 rhythm RealTracks, including
a mixture of arpeggiated chords and steady 8ths, with distortion and phaser effects essential to the character of 90’s Grunge
Rock. Additionally, this set includes a “GrungePopGritty” soloist RealTracks with an irresistible tone, and a background
RealTracks “GrungeChugDistChorus” that adds an effective layer to any of the included rhythm RealTracks.
RealTracks Set 362: Indie Folk-Rock Guitar with Quinn Bachand Quinn Bachand is back with 12 new magnetic acoustic
guitar RealTracks! The modest, yet expressive character of Bachand’s playing on these RealTracks gives them great versatility
in the Folk and Rock genres. In this set, there are 6 rhythm and 6 fingerpicking RealTracks that include one recorded with a
nylon guitar, and an additional variation RealTracks “IndieWaltz.” With Band-in-a-Box’s vast material in this genre, there are
many opportunities to combine Quinn Bachand’s 12 new RealTracks with other releases, such as multiple past songwriter
RealTracks collections.
RealTracks Set 363: 60s Coffeehouse Guitar & Dulcimer with Quinn Bachand Return to a simpler time with RealTracks
Set 363! In addition to classic 60s guitar, this collection also includes a RealTracks first, Dulcimer! This collection of down-to-
earth RealTracks played by Quinn Bachand evoke the feel and ambiance of the folk heros of the 60s. Packed full of waltzes and
humble Folk rhythms, this collection includes 6 dulcimer and 4 acoustic guitar RealTracks, with an additional 2 variation guitar
RealTracks which treat the slow 128 grooves as 3:4 waltzes. With such a friendly sound, these RealTracks blend well with many
past-released Folk RealTracks.
RealTracks Set 364: More “Cinematic” Guitar with Darin Favorite Darin Favourite paints a vast cinematic soundscape in
this collection of electric guitar RealTracks. With 7 rhythm, 2 soloists, and an additional 4 variation RealTracks, this set
provides both smooth and distorted reverb heavy tones occupying different ranges of the guitar, allowing different layers to
coalesce into a dreamy atmosphere. For extra punch to cut through the pensive delay and reverb of “CinematicPopArpDelay,”
the soloist “CinematicPopGritty” or the rhythm “MetalCinematicLowTune” RealTracks deliver a satisfying dose of distortion.
RealTracks Set 365: Reggae 16ths, Dancehall and more! This collection of RealTracks is packed full of exciting new
content expanding Band-in-a-Box’s growing catalog of Reggae and Dancehall material! This includes 2 Reggae electric guitar
RealTracks, 2 electric basses, 4 RealDrums styles, 2 marimba RealTracks, and 2 new steel drum RealTracks, all combining well
with previously released Caribbean influenced RealTracks collections, such as “Slow Groovin’ Reggae” or “Calypso Pop.”
Additionally, among this collection’s RealDrum tracks,the single percussion elements of those RealDrums are also available as
“RealDrums singles,” which allow them to be used on their own to combine with other RealDrums as you’d like!
RealTracks Set 366: Gospel Shout Raise your hands! These 3 irresistible and infectious Gospel Shout RealTracks work great
together and will have you on your feet in no time! Included is a clear toned bass RealTracks laying down snappy hits on the 1
and 3 in the A section, which then switches to walking in the B section. This is nicely offset by the RealDrum’s track’s spirited
snare hits on the 2 and 4. Both are occasionally embellished by forceful fills delivering ecstatic flares of energy. Additionally, 2
variations of RealTrack’s “Bass, Electric, GospelShoutAB Ev16 150” are included, allowing you to exclusively use A or B
modes as a RealTrack. Lastly, the included piano RealTracks “GospelShoutMike” sits nicely on top filling out the groove with
tight syncopations and embellishments.
RealTracks Set 367: Acoustic Rock Perfect for the Soft-Rock heartbreaker, this set of acoustic guitar Rock RealTracks
provides great support and space for sincere vocals and impassioned guitar solos. With 13 RealTracks to choose from, with an
additional 2 variation RealTracks, this collection provides a great selection of palm muted driving rhythms, ballad grooves, and
arpeggiated chords, all played with the laid-back finesse and restraint reminiscent of the 90’s Soft-Rock aesthetic. Given the
supportive feel of these RealTracks, they are particularly versatile and would contribute well to combinations of numerous
previously released RealTracks with a Folk, Rock, Indie, Pop, or Singer-Songwriter tinge.

Appendix A: RealTracks Sets 417

RealTracks Set 368: Country Pollwinners 3 - Americana Shuffle and More The sounds of Americana have never been
more inspiring! Featured on a shuffle Rhythm and Soloist electric guitar RealTracks is 2-time winner of the Country Music
Association (CMA) award, Brent Mason. Nashville basist Steve Mackey, who has played with the likes of Dolly Parton and
Peter Frampton, is featured on 2 RealTracks, each with additional variations. Finally, winner and 6-time nominee of the CMA
award, Fred Eltringham is featured on 7 new RealTracks! With so many choices ranging from “LooseShuffle,: to
“Slow8thBrushes,” to “FunkyPop,” to “Slow12/8,” all your needs for Americana Grooves are met with this stellar collection.
RealTracks Set 369: Country Pollwinners 4 - Nashville Radio Shuffle and More Featured in this exciting new collection of
country pop grooves and shuffles, are the cream-of-the-crop musicians. Winner and 2-time nominee of the Academy of Country
Music’s (ACM) Award, Danny Rader brings the shuffle alive with a ripping soloist RealTrack, alongside an accompanying
Rhythm RealTrack. Holding it down on the bass on 4 RealTracks, each included with 2 variation styles, is Jimmy Carter, a
staple musician in the Nashville scene. Lastly, featured on the drums is Miles McPherson, winner of the 2020 ACM Award and
former drummer for the popular band Paramore. Featuring 6 RealTracks, Miles contributes a great variation in feels, including
“FunkyBallad,” “Shuffle,” “Pop8ths,” and “Push 16ths.” Want to play alongside the best of Nashville country musicians? Now
is your chance!
RealTracks Set 370: Americana Baritone Acoustic Guitar RealTracks Set 370 features another RealTracks first, Baritone
Acoustic Guitar! The unique depth and fullness of tone of this instrument makes this collection an essential addition to Band-in-
a-Box’s Americana catalog. With 10 RealTracks, ranging from “Rootsy16ths,” to “SwingWaltz,” to “FastRock,” and more,
there will be a Baritone Guitar RealTracks here that suits whichever Americana tempo or feel that you require. Bring your sound
down a fourth and get the deep resonance you have been craving!
RealTracks Set 371: Celtic Ballads and More with Quinn Bachand Multi-instrumentalist Quinn Bachand never ceases to
amaze, and he’s back again with ten new RealTracks that feature him on acoustic guitar, bodhran hand-drum, and jawharp! The
guitar styles feature variations on reels and jigs, providing more delicate and understated options for these grooves, as well as
widening the tempo range for these styles. We’ve also added new slow bodhran styles, perfect for slow airs & waltzes, but can
also be used to give your pop songs an Irish flair. The jaw harp styles work great over both Celtic and Bluegrass styles alike, and
also included are RealStyles that use them in these various settings. There are also variations for the jaw harps, with the standard
approach just playing a single note (based on the key) throughout the song (since jaw harps are only single-note instruments),
but the variations include options where the notes change based on the chords.
RealTracks Set 372: Lap Steel with Eddy Dunlap In this collection, the young, well-respected, up-and-coming Nashville
multi-instrumentalist Eddy Dunlap brings us 5 dazzling RealTracks on the lap steel guitar. With 3 background RealTracks, you
get to choose between the haunting, reverb-heavy drone in “Slow Ambient” for atmospheric work, or the more organic tone to
accompany your Americana aesthetic with “Americana16ths” and “Americana8thsHigh.” Additionally, you can give Eddy
Dunlap center stage with 2 brilliant soloist RealTracks that bring out the best of the slides and vibrato characteristic of lap steel
guitar.
RealTracks Set 373: Pop Soul with Brent Mason This collection of RealTracks does well to capture the astounding
versatility of sensational guitarist Brent Mason. “PopFunkySoulLowSingleNoteChorus” sits deep in the pocket, giving your Pop
song a hip flare, while “PopIndieArpPhaser” exquisitely fills out your supporting backing track. Perhaps you want more space?
On “PopSoulHeldSlow12/8,” Brent allows his beautiful tone to sing effortlessly behind you. In addition to 5 Rhythm
RealTracks, of which are greatly adaptable to Band-in-a-Box’s past releases in the Pop, Indie and Soul styles, Brent gives us
another 2 heart-wrenching soloist RealTracks to add to the catalogue.
RealTracks Set 374: Old-Time Music 4 - “Bonfire” & “Sad Ballad” Whether you are searching for a folk-dance party, or
time to reflect with some melancholy ballads, this collection has what you need. The “Bonfire” and “Sad Ballad” series consists
of 5 RealTracks each for a total of 10 RealTracks. Both include the same set of instruments. Quinn Bachand plays acoustic
guitar, while the remaining 8 RealTracks, including mandolin, banjo, and fiddle, feature 4-time Grammy winner Andy Leftwich.
While both the “Bonfire” and “Sad Ballad” series of RealTracks sound great as they come, RealTracks such as the Mandolin
and Fiddle background soloist styles easily mix and match with past releases! For example, they work very well in Bluegrass
settings, and also work great on Celtic reel and ballad styles.
RealTracks Set 375: Swingin’ Shuffle Vocals Band-in-a-Box is excited to continue growing its catalogue of vocal
RealTracks, which were first introduced in the 2018 release. This collection comes with many variations to make it as adaptable
as possible. Don’t want the three-part harmony? Among the 5 gospel shuffle vocal RealTracks included in this collection are a
high, medium, and low variant, each with their own 2 variations themselves, to accommodate those in need of a simpler vocal
accompaniment. Additionally, this set features a beautiful background gospel soloist vocal RealTrack, giving your work a truly
authentic sound.
RealTracks Set 376: Smooth Fusion Soloing with Mike Stern This set of RealTracks features legendary fusion guitarist
Mike Stern, soloing over a variety of fusion grooves. In addition to following along with Mike’s creative 16th note lines in the
fretboard view, try going to Band-in-a-Box’s notation view for these tracks, where you will find high-quality transcriptions that
include bends, hammer-ons and pull-offs. These RealTracks work very well with “RealTracks Set 377 - Smooth Fusion Rhythm
Guitar with Brent Mason,” but also work well with previously released RealTracks sets that include fusion grooves, such as
“RealTracks Set 329: Fusion and Gritty Funk.”
RealTracks Set 377: Smooth Fusion Rhythm Guitar with Brent Mason RealTracks Set 377 features 5 electric guitar
RealTracks played by guitarist extraordinaire Brent Mason. The set features both rhythmic guitars as well as more ethereal

418 Appendix A: RealTracks Sets

“background” guitars, playing over a variety of grooves including fast, funky 16ths, cool swing 16ths, and a slow rhythmic
groove. The guitars in this set work very well alongside the RealTracks soloists in “RealTracks Set 376 - Smooth Fusion
Soloing with Mike Stern.”
RealTracks Set 378: New Orleans Piano with Kevin McKendree Nashville based keyboardist Kevin McKendree takes us to
New Orleans with 4 groovy acoustic piano RealTracks. In this set, McKendree delivers some of the best quintessential funk,
gospel, soul, and rock’n’roll piano feels. If you’re after the classic and nostalgic sound, look no further than RealTracks Set 378!
RealTracks Set 379: Classic Funk Guitar This comprehensive collection consists of 11 funk electric guitar RealTracks,
including 7 rhythm guitars and 4 corresponding background RealTracks with cool riffs to complement the rhythm. Among this
funky array of guitar tracks, you will find 4 distinct grooves including funk that is reminiscent of the 1960’s funk and soul, funk
from Detroit, and more modern dance funk. With this set, there is enough choices to pursue either the traditional nostalgic
sounds of funk music, or a more modern sound.
RealTracks Set 380: Blues Harmonica with Pat Bergeson With an incredibly wide range in tempo and feels, this set has all
you need for blues harmonica playing. 6 background soloist RealTracks contains hundreds upon hundreds of bluesy licks, all
with a natural phrasing that provide a nice interplay between a soloist or lead singer. Additionally, this set includes “Harmonica,
Soloist BluesShufflePat Sw 120” for those wanting the harmonica to take center stage in their song. All these RealTracks are
brought to you by Nashville based multi-instrumentalist Pat Bergeson, who is well known for his work with Lyle Lovett, Chet
Atkins, and many others.
RealTracks Set 381: Resonator Blues with Rob Ickes Featuring the award-winning dobro player Rob Ickes, this collection
of resonator guitar RealTracks provide an adaptive range of tempos and feels to satisfy the needs of the blues enthusiasts.
Among this collection, you will find resonator guitar RealTracks for shuffles, 12/8 grooves and just straight rock’n’roll! While
they contain hundreds of great bluesy licks, these 6 background soloist RealTracks still work great as supporting RealTracks
that keep the listener’s interest without overshadowing lead vocals. The very common Blues Shuffle groove also gets an extra
soloist RealTrack, which is meant to shine in the spotlight!
RealTracks Set 382: Jump Blues and Rumba Blues with Pat Bergeson, Kevin McKendree, Dave Roe, and Wes Little
You’ll be jumping, jiving, and maybe even wailing with RealTracks Set 382! We’ve received many requests for these specialty
blues styles and we’ve delivered with a comprehensive collection of RealTracks, with the building blocks for an entire band.
Included are 2 RealDrum tracks with 4 different options for accompanying percussion tracks, 3 electric guitar rhythm
RealTracks alongside 3 corresponding soloist tracks, featuring Nashville based multi-instrumentalist Pat Bergeson. Also
included are 2 acoustic piano RealTracks, 2 electric bass RealTracks, and 2 acoustic bass RealTracks. Finally, there are an
additional 4 variations for the Jump Blues bass RealTracks. With this set alone, you will have all you need to start making songs
with energetic RealTracks reminiscent of old school rock’n’roll and blues music.
RealTracks Set 383: Blues Organ Soloing and Comping with Charles Treadway This set features the great Charles
Treadway on 5 organ RealTracks. The 12/8 and shuffle rhythm RealTracks in this set splits the left hand from the right. The left
hand RealTracks can be used as rhythm comping tracks in combination with other soloist RealTracks. Or, to get the full Charles
Treadway organ experience, try combining the right-hand soloist RealTracks in this set with their corresponding left-hand
rhythm RealTracks. For those wanting a more funky twist for their organ soloist style, try “Organ, Soloist
BluesFunkyEvenCharles Ev 120.”
RealTracks Set 384: Hip Blues Shuffle Horns with Chris West This set of RealTracks gives you tons of blues licks that are
arranged for a 4-piece saxophone section by Nashville saxophonist and arranger Chris West. These voicings and articulations
radiate late night talk show vibes! Use “Horn Section, Rhythm BluesShuffleChris Sw 130” to infuse your interludes and
choruses with great energy. Or for a more subtle background RealTrack, try using only one of any of the 4 saxophones in
combination with other shuffle RealTracks.
RealTracks Set 385: Alt-Rock Guitar: Slow Rocking Grooves and Funky Modern Rock From the alt-rock of the 90s
through to the present, this collection of RealTracks recreates some of the most satisfying gritty electric guitar tones to come out
of the underground alternative rock genre. In addition to a great selection of chugging rock grooves and slow arpeggios
characteristic of this genre, are similar guitar tones adapted to fit more funky and modern styles. This set comes to a total of 15
RealTracks, of which also include two background RealTracks and an “AltRockSlowSteady8ths6” RealDrum track that fits well
behind all of them.
RealTracks Set 386: Alt-Rock Guitar: Poppy Hard Rock and Fast Poppy Punk A continuation of our gritty alternative
rock guitar tones, this collection of Realtracks offers more great alt-rock grooves focusing on faster tempos. Included are 11
Rhythm RealTracks on electric guitar, with “AltRockFast8ths^” to accompany them all perfectly on drums. Turn up the tempo
and get punk with “Guitar, Electric, Rhythm PunkPopMuted Ev 170,” “Guitar, Electric, Rhythm PunkPopChugging Ev 170”
and “Guitar, Electric, Rhythm PunkPopHeld Ev 170” all layered together.
RealTracks Set 387: Modern Pop: Hip-Hop, Dance, and More This all-in-one impressive set of 25 RealTracks gives you all
the tools to craft tracks with a superb modern pop sound! With 3 electronic RealDrum tracks and 4 corresponding synth bass
RealTracks, this set provides many options for building a strong hip-hop, dance, or modern pop foundation to your tracks. To
layer on top, this set also includes 12 pop electric guitar rhythm RealTracks that all add a restrained and organic layer of sound
to blend with the synthesizers. Finally, this set includes Band-in-a-Box’s first instance of a riser RealTrack,
“ElecRisersHypeTrain.” Using this is an excellent way to add great anticipation to different sections of your songs.

Appendix A: RealTracks Sets 419

RealTracks Set 388: Pop 12-String Electric and more with Brent Mason We’ve added many more electric 12-string guitars
and more with legendary guitarist Brent Mason! With a wide range of tempos, this set features 9 electric guitar RealTracks,
including 1 on baritone electric guitar and 1 hard-hitting funky soloist RealTrack. In addition to the 4 RealTracks played on 12-
string, Brent Mason also explores different delays, rotaries, swells, and phasers in the other RealTracks included in this set,
making this collection of unique guitar tones particularly special.
RealTracks Set 389: Folk-Rock Tin Whistle with Geoff Kelly Give your pop or folk song a hint of Ireland with the beautiful
and haunting tone of the tin whistle! This gorgeous set of 4 RealTracks are guaranteed to heighten the emotion, drama, and
romanticism factor of many different combinations of previously released RealTracks. Try combining with styles ranging from
new age, to folk, or to indie pop. Each of the 2 background soloist RealTracks have an accompanying simpler background style
for those looking for a more subtle instrumental addition to their song.
RealTracks Set 390: Pop Vibes with Todd London This trio of RealTracks is Band-in-a-Box’s first set of vibes geared
towards the pop genre. Having both a swing and even feel RealTrack, alongside a ballad option for a softer and slower touch,
makes this trio adaptable to many different situations. Featured on the vibes is the skilled Nashville based musician Todd
London. Try blending these RealTracks with softer and calm previously released RealTracks, such as brushes, or upright bass,
to create magical and lush lullaby-like tracks.
RealTracks Set 391: Acoustic and Electric Vintage Rock ‘n’ Roll with Quinn Bachand With so many to choose from, this
is an essential collection of guitar RealTracks for the classic rock ‘n’ roll enthusiast. This set features 20 new classic rock’n’roll
RealTracks including both electric and acoustic guitars. Included is a vast range of tempos and styles, including a 6/8 chopping
feel, held tremolo chords, rock’n’roll guitar sweeps, and Latin pop rhythms. Try combining these with previously released
country, New Orleans style, rhythm and blues, or classic rock RealTracks for great results!
RealTracks Set 392: Do-Wop Vocals: Classic Slow 12-8 groove The infectious spirit of doo-wop never goes out of style!
Adding to our growing catalogue of vocal RealTracks, we are excited to take you back to the 50’s & 60’s doo-wop era with our
new set of doo-wop vocal RealTracks. This single vocal rhythm 12/8 RealTracks combines an impressive 12 individually
recorded tracks that can be used separately as background vocals for those wanting a specific range of parts. All the parts,
including the high tenor, medium tenor, baritone, and bass, are available as double tracked RealTtracks (i.e., “Vocal,
Background Doo-WopSlow128TenorHiDbl Sw 065”), or can be split and used as single recorded tracks (i.e., “Vocal,
Background Doo-WopSlow128TenorHi1 Sw 065” or “Vocal, Background Doo-WopSlow128TenorHi2 Sw 065”).
RealTracks Set 393: “Producer” Country Guitars 1 with Brent Mason and Michael Rhodes bass: Explosive Guitars and
Country Rock This extensive collection of RealTracks featuring guitarist Brent Mason and bassist Michael Rhodes brings you
10 powerful electric guitar rhythm RealTracks, and two supporting electric bass RealTracks. Additionally, this set features a
fantastic gritty soloist RealTrack, of which is conveniently accompanied by a simplified background soloist RealTracks that
provides a great substitute when supporting a singer. When grouped together, the rhythm RealTracks in this set produce a
mighty wall of sound, perfectly suited for the modern country artist or producer. With the base tempo of 75, the first group of
RealTracks is suitable for power ballads, while the RealTracks with a base tempo of 120 are geared towards more upbeat and
driving songs. With such a powerful backdrop behind Brent Mason’s featured soloist RealTrack, modern country has never
sounded bigger in Band-in-a-Box.
RealTracks Set 394: “Producer” Country Guitars 2 with Brent Mason: “Outlaw” and Funky Country Grooves This set
continuous our new series of layered modern country guitars with10 RealTracks that sound particularly powerful when grouped
together. On a more funky note then the previous set, Brent Mason returns with 2 amazing soloist RealTracks with hooky
phrases delivered with Brent’s usual brilliant skill. Out of the 10 RealTracks, this set also features 2 baritone electric guitars that
nicely contribute to thickening this set’s big sound.
RealTracks Set 395: Singer-Songwriter DADGAD Guitar with Quinn Bachand This assortment of rich and warm acoustic
RealTracks will breathe life into your singer-songwriter performance! This set features west coast legend Quinn Bachand on 8
acoustic guitar RealTracks, including 4 on nylon strings and 3 in a fingerpicking style. The DADGAD tuning was specifically
requested for singer-songwriter styles, as it lends itself to creative voicings and textures. This set of RealTracks take the singer-
songwriter’s style to the next level of musicianship and intricacy.
RealTracks Set 396: Wes Little Singer-songwriter mallets & cajon This set of 22 RealDrums is brought to you by one of
Nashville’s most renowned and adaptable drummers, Wes Little. With an aim towards the singer-songwriter, this set includes 11
RealDrum tracks that use mallets which help to create a round sound with a softer attack. This does well to support the singer-
songwriter in a beautiful and seamless fashion. For busier and more complex sounding drum patterns, try combining the mallet
RealDrums with the corresponding Cajon RealDrums in this set by using Band-in-a-Box’s multi-drum feature.
RealTracks Set 397: Cajun Zydeco Inspired by the sounds of southwest Louisiana, this all-in-one set consists of 7 Cajun
Zydeco RealTracks with options for both acoustic and electric bass, as well as two electric guitar options, one more based on
classic Zydeco, and the other more based on the country-influence cajun. The washboard and drums included in the
“CajunZydecoPerc^” style combine perfectly with the other RealTracks in this set to create an energetic and organic sounding
band. Accordion master Jeff Taylor, is featured on both an accordion rhythm and soloist RealTrack.
RealTracks Set 398: Eddy Dunlap Lap Steel & Pedal Steel Nashville based multi-instrumentalist, Eddy Dunlap, is back
with 3 incredible pedal steel and lap steel soloist RealTracks! In addition to covering a wide range of tempos, each of these

420 Appendix A: RealTracks Sets

RealTracks deliver an ecstatic energy guaranteed to satisfy the solo section of your most spirited songs. For great results, try
mixing and matching with some of our previously released gospel and blues styles!
RealTracks Set 399: Cinematic Baritone with Darin Favorite Darin Favorite is back with more effect-heavy cinematic
RealTracks. Except now he is also featured on 4 baritone electric guitar RealTracks. Try mixing and matching with RealTracks
from Darin Favorite’s past cinematic guitar sets 311 and 364 for awesome results! By occupying a lower range with additional
effects that add a sense of depth, these RealTracks sit nicely in the back of the mix and allow room for many other instruments
to shine. Therefore, this makes for a versatile set of RealTracks that can be easily combined with other less related RealTracks.
RealTracks Set 400: Classic Country Soloing with Johnny Hiland Need a swinging guitar solo to buff up your country
track? Look no further. This set features the incredible Johnny Hiland from Nashville Tennessee and includes 3 classic country
swing guitar soloist RealTracks that will make your shuffles, ballads or waltz’s glitter. These versatile RealTracks can be used
with literally hundreds of our previously release country styles!
RealTracks Set 401: Modern Jazz Drums with Mike Clark: Fusion & Funk More Fusion and Funk RealDrums are here
and are sure to spice up your song. This set includes 4 RealDrums by Mike Clark. These excellent RealDrums can be used with
many other Fusion and Funk instruments, including previously released RealTracks such as “RealTracks Set 356: Modern Jazz
& Funk with Jeff Lorber” and “RealTracks Set 377: Smooth Fusion Rhythm Guitar with Brent Mason”.
RealTracks Set 402: Modern Jazz Drums with Mike Clark: Swing & More Jazz legend Mike Clark is “swinging” in to
expand the Modern Jazz RealDrums collection. These RealDrums are the perfect addition to any Jazz Combo! The audience
will for sure be moving to the beat.
RealTracks Set 403: Requested Blues: Chicago, Memphis, and More Made from popular demand, you are going to love
these Blues RealTracks from a variety of artists, including Pat Bergeson on guitar and Dave Roe on bass. These RealTracks
work great with any Chicago Shuffle Blues or Memphis Blues styles, or really any blues!
RealTracks Set 404: Requested Bossa Piano Soloing, 2-handed Miles Black is back for these requested 2-handed Bossa
Piano RealTracks. There is right-hand soloing, and left-hand comping, intended to be paired together, or used individually. With
syncopated rhythms and embellishments, these RealTracks will certainly be a highlight in any Bossa Nova song.
RealTracks Set 405: More Blues Organ Soloing & Comping with Charles Treadway Nashville based, expert organist
Charles Treadway recorded these incredible blues RealTracks. There are both right-hand Soloing styles, as well as left-hand
comping styles, specifically designed to match each other perfectly, but they can also be used on their own to meet your musical
needs!
RealTracks Set 406: Funky Soul Horns We don’t need soul searching to know that more Funky Soul Horns are a brilliant
addition to your song. This set includes horn, alto sax, tenor sax, and baritone sax, all recorded by the extraordinary Chris West.
These RealTracks are excellent with any Funky Blues instruments, such as previously released “RealTracks Set 140: Texas
Blues-Rock Shuffle” with Brent Mason and Sol Philcox. And, with the new “RealTracks Stems” feature in Band-in-a-Box 2023,
you can isolate the individual horn parts, giving you complete control over the mix!
RealTracks Set 407: Modern Fast Funk Guitar, Drums, and Keys Get your Funk on with these Fast Guitar, drums and
piano RealTracks. They are sure to make your rhythm sections stand out above the rest! The set features master pianist Kevin
McKendree, Nashville based session guitarist, Mike Durham and drummer Wes Little.
RealTracks Set 408: Lap Steel Blues with Rob Ickes & Eddy Dunlap RealTracks Set 408 features great new lap steel blues
styles from world-class musician Eddy Dunlap, and 13-time IBMA Instrumental Performer of the Year winner Rob Ickes. There
are both soloist styles as well as background styles intended to back up a singer or other instrumentalist.
RealTracks Set 409: Gritty Blues Harmonica with Pat Bergeson Multi talented Pat Bergeson is featured in this RealTracks
Set for his expertise on the harmonica. The tracks are gritty and include deadly licks and riffs; they are perfect for any blues
style.
RealTracks Set 410: More Blues Guitar with Johnny Hiland Featuring internationally acclaimed guitarist Johnny Hiland,
these soloists feature a gritty blues tone, and amazing, tasty blues licks. You can also follow along in notation as a great learning
tool!
RealTracks Set 411: 60s Latin Pop & Rock The set includes RealDrums, electric guitar, and acoustic piano, all playing in a
Latin style. It won’t be difficult to get your audience dancing to these great styles! Featured artists include Miles Black, Mike
Durham, and Wes Little.
RealTracks Set 412: Requested Southern Soul 1 The highly requested RealTrack Set 412 includes Soul tracks that are
reminiscent of the 70s era. It includes bass, electric guitar, and drum tracks by Dave Roe, Pat Bergeson and Wes Little.
RealTracks Set 413: Requested Southern Soul 2 Even more highly requested Southern Soul tracks are included in
RealTracks Set 413. Here you’ll find tracks in the style of 60’s and 70’s soul, featuring exquisite playing by Dave Roe on bass,
Pat Bergeson on guitar, and Wes Little on Drums.
RealTracks Set 414: Sounds from the East: Sitar, Tabla, and Dholak Infuse your songs with Eastern flavor with
RealTracks Set 414. Add the stunning Sitar playing of Anwar Khurshid and the incredible Dholak and Tabla playing of Shobhit
Banwait to your Band-in-a-Box songs to create the perfect Eastern fusion.

Appendix A: RealTracks Sets 421

RealTracks Set 415: Requested Metal Bass and 12-key Guitar These highly requested modern metal tracks are sure to melt
faces! Featuring Nico Santora on guitar, playing tracks in all 12 keys, Josh Paul holding down the low end on bass, and Wes
Little bringing the thunder on the drums.
RealTracks Set 416: Fast Modern Pop Rock and “enhanced” RealDrums This Set features fast pop guitars, with multiple
layers for a modern, polished sound. The set also includes “Enhanced” RealDrums, where we’ve taken existing RealDrums
styles and remixed them and added new electronic elements for a great radio-friendly sound!
RealTracks Set 417: Requested Prog Rock This requested RealTracks set includes distorted electric guitar by RealTracks
veteran Mike Durham, who has recorded on Grammy nominated singles. The set also includes bass and drums by rhythm
section Brian Allen and Wes Little.
RealTracks Set 418: Modern Electronic Pop This set features modern pop drums and synth, all of which work well for slow
16ths modern styles. With the drums, the individual elements that make up the full electronic kit can also be selected
individually, making them great for missing and matching these electronic elements with acoustic RealTracks and RealDrums.
RealTracks Set 419: Gritty Rock Harmonica with Pat Bergeson Add grit and sizzle to your Band-in-a-Box songs with
RealTracks Set 419! Pat Bergeson brings the grit that is sure to take you from the Mississippi Delta to the heart of Texas and
beyond!
RealTracks Set 420: Vocal Doo-Wop Pop 8ths Here to expand our collection of Doo-wop vocal RealTracks, this Set
includes voices in the tenor, baritone, and bass range. These RealTracks are perfect for any moderate to fast paced pop song.
And, with the new “RealTracks stems” feature, you can now have the individual voices from within the ensemble on different
tracks, all perfectly synced up!
RealTracks Set 421: Kevin McKendree Piano: Boogie, Gospel and More Featured here in RealTracks set 421 are the
unmistakable boogie-woogie, gospel, and rock n’ roll piano stylings renowned for getting you up on your feet! With Kevin
McKendree on the keys, you’re sure to be jumpin’ and jivin’ in no time. Also included are some 12-8 R&B stylings for when
it’s time to slow things down a bit.
RealTracks Set 422: Requested 80s New Wave You asked us to bring back the iconic 80’s New Wave guitar sounds we all
love, so here they are in RealTracks Set 422! Featuring Mike Durham on guitar, bringing all the clean, arpeggiated guitar sounds
you could ask for as well as the roaring overdriven power chords that’ll transform your song into an anthem!
RealTracks Set 423: “Producer” Country Guitars 3 with Brent Mason: Nashville Shuffle & Groovin’ Swing 16ths The
“ready-for-radio” RealStyles in this set feature gritty country guitars with a modern country flair. Included in this set are 11 new
guitars to use, including electric rhythm and soloists, as well as baritone electric guitar all played by Brent Mason. There are two
“groups”: shuffle & swing16, and the guitars in each group are intended to be layered for a full, produced sound. And, with the
volume automation features in Band-in-a-Box, you can bring various guitars in and out throughout your song, making new
“scenes” from verse, to chorus, to bridge. You’re in the producer’s seat!
RealTracks Set 424: “Producer” Country Guitars 4 with Brent Mason: Waltzes and Slow 12:8 Brent Mason returns to
wow us with his swing rhythm and soloist tracks using a clean electric guitar, overdrive guitar, and distorted rock guitar. The
12/8 RealStyles in this set are heavy on the guitar with a slower tempo that make a massive impact. Put on your producer’s cap,
and see what you can make with these great layered guitars!
RealTracks Set 425: “Producer” Country Guitars 5 with Brent Mason: Slow 16ths, even & swing RealTracks Set 426 is
designed for the singer-songwriter in mind. This set features rhythm and fingerpicking styles, 6 new acoustic guitar styles and 1
nylon guitar style performed by Quinn Bachand. And it comes with great RealStyles that use these RealTracks in a variety of
settings, including Indie-Electronic-Folk that includes other acoustic instruments but also electronic drum elements, as well as
styles that pair them with world-music elements.
RealTracks Set 426: Quinn Bachand, More Indie-Folk, Singer-songwriter Quinn Bachand using fingerpicking and rhythm
styles in 6 new acoustic guitar and 1 nylon guitar tracks to offer a softer sound commonly found in indie-folk music. This
singer-songwriter set has appeal for music lovers young and old and focuses on an even feel that is consistent throughout each
of the RealTracks. The RealStyles in this set cover genres such as PopSynth and Folk.
RealTracks Set 427: Requested Old-Time Autoharp Using this autoharp set is sure to add a whimsical and romantic flare to
your arrangements. Quinn Bachand plays swing, held, and waltz styles to give a nice depth of sound in a variety of tempos.
RealTracks Set 428: Contradance guitar & piano Everybody get in lines, it’s time for a contra dance! This combo of Daniel
Lapp on piano and Quinn Bachand’s impeccable guitar are sure to bring the house (or barn) down!
RealTracks Set 429: More Country Soloing with Johnny Hiland Featuring the talents of Johnny Hiland, this RealTrack set
provides users with three different electric guitars to choose from. You can find some waltz and ballad styles in slow and
medium-slow tempos showcased in this RealTrack Set.
More about RealTracks
For full descriptions and demos of all of the RealTracks sets, please go to www.pgmusic.com and see the RealTracks page,
https://www.pgmusic.com/products_realtracks.htm. While you’re there be sure to check for new releases.

422 Appendix A: RealTracks Sets

 Appendix B: MIDI SuperTracks Sets
MIDI SuperTracks Set 1: Pop Piano and More MIDI SuperTracks Set 1 features a combination of exciting Pop and Rock
piano by Nashville legend John Jarvis, and also features synth pad styles to add color to your Band-in-a-Box creations! Like
RealTracks, MIDI SuperTracks are actual performances by real studio musicians, playing over any chord progression you enter
into Band-in-a-Box, but because they’re MIDI you have complete control over the final sound. You can pick your own favorite
stand-alone or VST synth, choose any patches you like, and even edit the individual MIDI notes!
MIDI SuperTracks Set 2: All Jazz MIDI SuperTracks Set 2 adds essential jazz styles to your MST collection. There are
bossa, jazz swing, and jazz waltz styles, performed at multiple tempos on multiple instruments. We include bass, piano and
organ styles in all of these genres, and for each one, no matter what tempo you set your song to, you’re going to get a great
MIDI track! Because they’re MIDI, you can pick whatever instrument you want, and use whatever stand-alone or plugin synths
you want. For example, the bass styles were recorded with acoustic upright bass in mind, but you can easily switch to electric
bass, or even analog synth bass, you have complete control.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 3: Sweet Country Piano MIDI SuperTracks Set 3 adds some sweet country piano to your collection
of Band-in-a-Box styles. All of these MIDI SuperTracks are performed by Nashville legend John Jarvis, and it includes ‘solo-
accompaniment’ styles (intended to work well on their own to back up a singer or soloist) as well as rhythm styles that blend in
beautifully with our previously released rhythm section RealTracks or MIDI styles.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 4: Folk, Pop & New Age This set features contemplative piano styles, as well as lush strings styles.
There are 6 piano MIDI SuperTracks, featuring Celtic styles as well as a variety of New Age grooves, and very useful strings
that can be used in pop, country, or new age settings.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 5: Jazz Piano - Old and New Something old & something new is the theme with MIDI SuperTracks
Set 5! For the old, we have “4-to-the-bar” comping piano styles with chording in the left hand and inventive background
melodic lines with the right hand. There are also classic “rolling stride” styles, and a romping “40s Boogie” piano. For the new,
we have 3 tempos of modern jazz, a sophisticated and subtle piano style that works great with RealTracks bass & RealDrums!
MIDI SuperTracks Set 6: Latin Piano This set features 6 Latin Piano styles that range from a slow Bolero to a fast Montuno
& Guaracha! These MIDI SuperTracks pianos blend beautifully with RealTracks bass & percussion, and because they’re MIDI,
you can pick the piano sound YOU want, or even pick a different instrument!
MIDI SuperTracks Set 7: Smooth Jazz & Funk Piano For your Smooth Jazz compositions, MIDI SuperTracks Set 7
features piano styles for 5 different Smooth Jazz grooves. Pairing them with our Smooth Jazz RealTracks provides you with the
smoothest sound of all.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 8: More Country Piano RealTracks Set 8 runs the gamut of country piano with 12 piano styles!
These are extremely useful, providing understated accompaniment to your country band, whether the band is playing slow
ballads, waltzes, or country swing at any tempo.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 9: Praise & Worship Piano The MIDI SuperTracks Set 9 pianos are extremely useful no matter what
the musical genre. There are 7 unique styles to choose from here, and in addition to that there are variations that use one style
for the ‘A’ section of your song, switching to new parts at ‘B’.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 10: New Orleans Piano & More MIDI SuperTracks Set 10 has a diverse selection of piano MIDI
SuperTracks styles in genres ranging from New Orleans Boogie to fast Pop Waltz. The set is comprised of two New Orleans
Boogie styles (rhythm and soloist), one New Orleans Pop style, two Pop 16ths styles, a fast Pop Waltz style, and a Rootsy Pop
style for a total of seven styles. The showcase New Orleans MIDI SuperTracks are performed by professional pianist Kevin
McKendree. Some of these MIDI SuperTracks also have a ‘simple’ variation, which can be selected to make the style even more
basic, if that’s what your Band-in-a-Box song demands. The precise notation for these styles makes it a great learning tool. You
can print out the lead-sheet, or follow along with the on-screen notation, or view what’s being played on the on-screen piano
keyboard.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 11: Blues, Funk & More In MIDI SuperTracks Set 11 you are going to find a wide variety of
tempos, styles, and instruments. Included in this set are 2 Clav MIDI SuperTracks, 2 Electric Piano MIDI SuperTracks, and 4
Piano MIDI SuperTracks with a total of 10 styles! First is the FunkyGroove 60sJohn MIDI SuperTracks which plays a classic
funky style. This MIDI SuperTracks uses the Electric Piano patch. Also using the Electric Piano patch is the Piano, Electric,
Rhythm SlowBluesy12-8John Sw 085. With a style reminiscent of the ‘50s and ‘60s, this MIDI SuperTracks can be
incorporated into many different styles of music. The two styles that use the Clav patch are the FunkyGroovin70sJohn and the
FunkyTriplets70sJohn MIDI SuperTracks. Both play a unique style which is instantly recognizable and can be used in multiple
compositions. There are three ‘80s Pop MIDI SuperTracks, playing a wide range of tempo from a ballad all the way to a
medium tempo. These MIDI SuperTracks are versatile and can be incorporated into classic compositions or modern tunes. The
final MIDI SuperTracks is a soloist in the style of TexasBlues RockSlow 12/8. This MIDI SuperTracks plays long runs all in a
12/8 time signature. All of these MIDI SuperTracks can be viewed in the notation window to see exactly what the performer is
playing. Be sure to check out MIDI SuperTracks set 11 to see all of the potential MIDI available.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 12: World Synths Fasten your seatbelts because MIDI SuperTrack Set 12: World Synth has an
amazing selection of synths with some truly outstanding sounds! This set includes a variety of synthesizer MIDI SuperTracks,
from hard rock, jazz funk, to meditative new age styles that feature world synths. There is a hard rock fat chording synth style

Appendix B: MIDI SuperTracks Sets 423

that will complement any rock/pop songs you have. There are two styles dedicated to jazz funk - monophonic synth bass and a
bright lead background style. All of these MIDI SuperTracks are played with an even feel so they will work well with any
pop/rock/jazz songs you might have. The Shakuhachi & Koto MIDI SuperTracks are quite mellow in comparison, and although
they are presented as new age elements, they might complement any even groove style you are working with. All of the styles in
this set include RealCharts so you can see exactly what notes are played and learn to play along.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 13: Jazz Electric Piano MIDI SuperTracks Set 13 offers a collection of electric piano MIDI
SuperTracks that will add a modern edge to your traditional Jazz combo. The set is comprised of two Bossa styles, two classic
Jazz styles, a slow Jazz Ballad style, and a medium tempo Jazz Waltz style for a total of six styles. They all feature Vancouver
piano virtuoso Miles Black, and each one uses sophisticated voicings and rhythms, without being too busy. And each one also
has a ‘simple’ variation, which can be selected to make the style even more basic, if that’s what your Band-in-a-Box song
demands. The precise notation for these styles makes it a great learning tool. You can print out the lead-sheet, or follow along
with the on-screen notation, or view what’s being played on the on-screen piano keyboard.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 14: JazzPop Piano Full of skillfully executed rhythm tracks, MIDI SuperTrack Set 14: JazzPop
Piano is a collection of laid-back styles perfect for your next composition. With a combination of 5 MIDI SuperTrack Piano
included in set 199, there is a large spectrum of playing styles covered. Starting with the two EZ Listening pianos, created to
cover both Jazz and Pop chord progression, they can be used in a variety of compositions. The MIDI Electric Piano plays a
relaxed style with a warm electric piano tone. The Jazz Rock Electric Piano plays slightly upbeat and when added to a
composition can bring out a bright pop side. The final two styles in set 199 are Electric Piano Jazzy Swingin Pop. The Jazzy
Swingin Pop MIDI SuperTrack plays a bouncy attack with a soft, warm tone which gives this MIDI SuperTrack a relaxed feel.
All of these MIDI SuperTracks include RealCharts which can be viewed in the notation window or on the on-screen piano
keyboard. With a wide variety of feel, style, and tone, MIDI SuperTrack Set 14 is ready to be the next go to set of MIDI
SuperTrack when using Band-in-a-Box or RealBand.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 15: Kenny Barron Jazz Master With MIDI SuperTracks Set 15, we present legendary pianist Kenny
Barron comping in a variety of jazz grooves. You can enter any chord progression into Band-in-a-Box, and you can get this
master backing you up. Combined with our previously release RealTracks & MIDI SuperTracks, you can have a smokin’
rhythm section for medium jazz swing, slow ballads, slow or medium bossa, or fast bebop! And, because they’re MIDI, you
have complete control over the sound. Have a favorite piano VST? You can hear Kenny playing on it! Decide you want to hear
what these great comping styles sound like on vintage electric pianos? Go for it! And you also have complete editing control,
right down to every individual note!
MIDI SuperTracks Set 16: Killer Country Soloists With MIDI SuperTracks Set 16 you get the great playing country solos
of John Jarvis with the flexibility of MIDI. This set includes 8 MIDI SuperTrack styles all playing amazing solos in a country
style. 5 of the MIDI SuperTracks are played with a swing feel and the other 3 are played with an even feel. The tempos range
from slow ballad to fast and are all executed with the excellent skill of premium pianist John Jarvis. With the flexibility of
MIDI, you can choose your own synth to get the exact piano sound you want. You can also copy the track to the Melody track
and make edits to the style if you’d like. Be sure to add one of these solos to your next country composition.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 17: More Great Country Piano with John Jarvis MIDI SuperTrack Set 17 is full of awesome
country piano played by the amazing John Jarvis. In this set you will find Seven MIDI SuperTracks with Seven styles available.
You get Country in 12/8 with a Ballad feel and a faster country ballad at a medium tempo. There is an even feel slow country
MIDI SuperTrack as well as a fast even feel MIDI SuperTrack Piano. There is a hard-hitting Rock even feel MID SuperTrack
and a Country Shuffle at a medium tempo. The final MIDI SuperTrack in the set is Country Waltz at a slow tempo. All of these
MIDI SuperTracks have the notation available for them so you can see exactly what John Jarvis is playing. All of these amazing
MIDI SuperTracks are available in Set 17.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 18: Funky Piano & Synth This MIDI SuperTracks set includes five Funky instruments that will fill
out or change the mood of your Funk songs. The set is comprised of two electric pianos and three synthesizers. One of the
electric pianos plays in the style of a clavinet while the other has a more subdued playing style. The three synthesizers include
an electric flutes synth, a funky plucking synth, and a thick Funky pad synth. All of these MIDI SuperTracks have
corresponding Hi-Q patches which are already preloaded into the included styles. Bring your Funk compositions to a whole new
level with MIDI SuperTracks 18: Funky Pianos & Synths!
MIDI SuperTracks Set 19: Rockabilly Piano This MIDI SuperTracks set includes seven pianos in two main musical styles:
Rockabilly (5 styles) and New Orleans (2 styles). The two New Orleans pianos include a medium shuffle and a slow “Mardi
Gras” piano. The five Rockabilly pianos cover many tempos, some are even and some are swing. All of the styles that come
with these MIDI SuperTracks are preloaded with Hi-Q acoustic piano patches, but feel free to experiment with your own sounds
too. Check out this collection of traditional, high-energy MIDI SuperTracks pianos today!
MIDI SuperTracks Set 20: String Quartet With MIDI SuperTracks Set 20, you get three different MIDI String Quartet
Styles. A String Quartet is made up of 3 instruments playing four parts, a Cello, a Viola, a High Violin and a Low Violin. In
these MIDI SuperTracks, each instrument part is notated on the screen, and depending on the MIDI driver being used, can
recreate each instrument with a MIDI patch. When these MIDI SuperTracks are selected, the Hi-Q Strings Ensemble Chamber is
loaded in SampleTank for playback. The String Quartet plays a Pop ballad even style. This ballad String Quartet has long low
notes that are held while the higher instruments play slow melodic passages. Using the MIDI Hi-Q sounds this MIDI
SuperTrack has the control you get from MIDI with the playing of a professional studio musician. The next MIDI SuperTrack is

424 Appendix B: MIDI SuperTracks Sets

the Pop Swing String Quartet played at a medium tempo. Use this MIDI SuperTrack with a stripped-down composition using a
few instruments or if you want to add a strings section to a completed song. The final MIDI SuperTrack in this set is the Pop
Even String Quartet playing at a medium tempo. This String Quartet plays long notes in both registers with melodic phrases
played High and Low in counter points. Not as busy as other String Quartets, this MIDI SuperTrack adds an underlying
atmosphere to any song in an even style. With three String Quartets in MIDI SuperTracks set 20, you can surely find a style that
will be able to add a new layer to your songs or start your next composition in a new and exciting way!
MIDI SuperTracks Set 21: Mike Rojas Pop and Soul Piano MIDI SuperTrack Set 21 is packed with exceptional piano riffs
played by none other than the incredible Mike Rojas! In this set you will find six MIDI SuperTracks that range from slow ballad
to more upbeat. The feel extends from even standards to swinging 16ths! The first three MIDI SuperTracks are influenced by
Gospel that includes Soul, Slow Ballad and Contemporary. Lastly there is a 70’s Brit-Pop rhythm. All of these superior MIDI
SuperTracks are available in set 21!
MIDI SuperTracks Set 22: Country and Folk Piano MIDI SuperTracks set 22 offers exciting Country and Folk Piano!
These 6 MIDI SuperTracks are packed with new variations in Country and Folk styles! This set includes contemporary swing
and even styles. The tempo ranges from slow swing ballads to fast and upbeat. All of the country styles are played by the
talented John Jarvis! Load up your favorite VST and experiment to come up with great ideas! Add MIDI SuperTrack Set 22 to
your collection!
MIDI SuperTracks Set 23: Jazz and Funk Piano, Organ and Accordion Get your groove on with these fresh Jazz and
Funk influenced MIDI SuperTracks included in set 23! You will discover twelve fantastic MIDI SuperTracks played by
professional musicians Mike Rojas, John Jarvis, and Cory Pesaturo! Together they bring styles ranging from Tango, Funk,
Gypsy Jazz, Smooth-Soul and More! Most of MIDI SuperTracks are played with an even feel so they will work well with any
other pop/rock/jazz songs you might have. Add this amazing bundle of MIDI SuperTracks to your collection.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 24: Mike Rojas Blues, Piano and Organ MIDI SuperTracks Set 24 features exclusive tracks played
by session pianist Mike Rojas! This set comes with nine tracks in various playing styles with a diverse range of Blues, Country
and Funk. Most are played with traditional swing rhythms. Mike also plays a range of different tempos between slow ballads to
toe tapping swings! Set 24 includes five tracks for Piano and four for Organ, but you can load in your favorite VST to explore
different possibilities!
MIDI SuperTracks Set 25: Killer Accordion This set features a whopping 15 new Accordion MIDI SuperTracks styles!
There are great world styles, including a variety of Klezmer grooves, Italian, Spanish and Swedish styles! There are several
polka styles, including the Klezmer 3-3-2 groove, a syncopated rhythm that’s the hallmark of that genre. The artist on all of
these styles is World Championship Accordionist Cory Pesaturo, and even though it’s MIDI, it’s comprised of actual
performances by this amazing artist. Because it’s MIDI, you have complete control over the specific patch you use, so in
addition to accordion patches & synths, you could, for example, play these styles with an organ patch. And, the MIDI is of
course fully editable.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 26: Country and Folk Piano MIDI SuperTracks Set 26 features 9 great piano styles playing various
folk and country grooves. Six of these are geared towards acoustic piano, and 3 are geared toward electric piano, but of course
because these are MIDI styles you can pick any patch you like for any of them, and use any synth, whether it’s a hardware synth
or software. And being MIDI, these parts are fully editable, giving you complete control over the final sound. In addition to
Country and Folk styles, we all have 2 utility “held” styles, which play simple chords with lower voicings geared towards
acoustic piano, and higher voicings geared toward electric piano.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 27: Celtic Piano This set features 8 amazing Celtic piano styles from amazing Scottish pianist Dave
Milligan. The styles feature grooves like Jig, Reel, Slipjig, Hornpipe and more! There are many existing RealTracks that work
very well with the new piano styles, and the set also includes RealStyles that pair up these new tracks with our previous guitar,
bass & bodhran RealTracks. Originally recorded with acoustic piano patches, they can also be used with any patch on any synth.
So, you can feel free to try these trad styles out with, for example electric pianos or synth patches! And, as MIDI you have
complete editing control!
MIDI SuperTracks Set 28: Pop Basses With MIDI SuperTracks Sets 28, we’ve added 6 new MIDI SuperTracks to our
collection. In the past we’ve had jazz bass MIDI SuperTracks, but for the first time we’ve added pop bass styles (6), perfect for
acoustic or electric patches. And, since they’re MIDI, you can pick ANY patch you like, for example, a really cool synth bass!
Or, you could go with a classic electric bass or upright acoustic!
MIDI SuperTracks Set 29: More Organ, Piano & Accordion With MIDI SuperTracks Sets 29, we’ve 6 new MIDI
SuperTracks to our collection. This features some beautifully played keyboards by Nashville great Mike Rojas (4), great with
our existing Americana styles, but also great with a wide variety of Band-in-a-Box styles. There are also new European
accordion styles (2) performed by the award-winning virtuoso Cory Pesaturo.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 30: Jazz, Funk, and Gospel Keyboards MIDI SuperTracks Set 30 adds 9 new keyboard MIDI
SuperTracks to our collection. The set focuses on Jazz, Funk & Gospel, and includes both rhythm “comping” styles as well as
soloists. Included are styles that were specifically designed for use with jazz blues and “rhythm changes” progressions, with
both comping and soloist options for those. There is a “cool swing16” gospel piano style, with great bluesy gospel licks. There
are rhythm funk styles, playing a variety of funk grooves and tempos, as well as a soloist that was intended to be used with an

Appendix B: MIDI SuperTracks Sets 425

analogue synth sound. But of course, as with all of these MIDI SuperTracks, you can pick whatever instrument patch you like,
since it’s all MIDI!
MIDI SuperTracks Set 31: All Bass This set features new Americana & pop country basses, along with new funk styles and a
cool fast ska style. And, there are also Band-in-a-Box styles and demos to go along with these MIDI SuperTracks, and you can
pick whatever bass patch you like, acoustic, electric, or even synth bass sounds!
MIDI SuperTracks Set 32: Jazz, New Age, and Gospel Keys This collection of SuperTracks provides a tasteful array of
keyboard playing, ranging from the flavor of New Orleans styles, to the crunchy voicings of modern jazz piano, to the more
open and consonant sounds of New Age and Gospel style piano playing. The range of these piano styles, coupled with the
versatility and utility of SuperTracks, makes this set a must have for the keyboard enthusiast.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 33: More Bass This collection of 9 bass MIDI SuperTracks never misses a beat, covering an
extremely broad range of styles, such as Latin, Gospel, Funk, Nashville shuffle, and Reggae. The extremely tight syncopation on
synth bass SuperTrack’s “FunkJeff” and “SmoothJazzCoolJeff” are irresistibly groovy, while “Raggae16th” and
“DancehallClassic” lays back with an effortless sound. For something different, “PartidoAlto” gives you the fantastic Latin feel
your bass repertoire may currently lack.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 34: Blues Piano and Organ This collection of SuperTracks provides an eclectic collection of blues
keyboard MIDI SuperTracks, including 5 organ styles and 4 piano styles. The organ tracks are all straight-ahead blues with
options for soloing as well as left-hand chording, and these left-hand/right-hand tracks are meant to work together to get a full
sound over the full range of the instrument. And on the piano we have New Orleans infused soul piano, as well as even more
blues with jump blues as well as the Latin flavor in the rumba blues style. This set also comes with Band-in-a-Box styles that
use the MIDI SuperTracks in the context of a full band, by pairing them with RealTracks and RealDrums, but also by pairing
them with other MIDI tracks for new ALL-MIDI styles!
MIDI SuperTracks Set 35: All Guitar By popular request, we’ve added guitar MIDI SuperTracks for the first time ever!
These tracks are very useful, and all of them work very well with acoustic, nylon, or electric guitar patches. And, using them in
conjunction with plugins such as amp simulators, distortion, chorus, tremolo and more can bring these tracks to life! It includes
fingerpicking, “sweep” held chords, power chords and more! And, we’ve made Band-in-a-Box styles that pair these MIDI
SuperTracks with RealTracks and RealDrums, but we’ve also made ALL-MIDI styles that use these as well!
MIDI SuperTracks Set 36: Funk & Jazz Piano This Funk & Jazz MIDI SuperTracks Set features the likes of Kevin
McKendree and Miles Black. You’ll find a mix of faster paced bouncy and lively piano playing, as well as paired back, mellow,
and soothing rhythms and soloists in a variety of genres such as bossa, boogie, Latin jazz, and more.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 37: Contradance Piano This Contradance set showcases old-timey rhythm piano in both even and
swing feels played by Daniel Lapp. The set has an overall jaunty and playful vibe to it that would be well suited towards folk
and jig dance songs.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 38: Funk & Blues Electric Piano and Organ Charles Treadway and Kevin McKendree show off
their organ and piano skills in this Funk & Blues Electric Piano and Organ set. This set ranges from classic funk, busier and high
energy playing, all the way to a slower and smoother blues funk, and features both rhythm instruments and soloists.
MIDI SuperTracks Set 39: SynthMaster This SuperTracks Set is specifically designed to utilize the award-winning
SynthMaster Player Synth by KV331 Audio that is included with Band-in-a-Box 2023. This collection provides a selection of
synth pad, bass synth, and arpeggiators in a variety of styles, like fast rhythm funk, trance, dance and more.

426 Appendix B: MIDI SuperTracks Sets

 Index
+/- Files .................................................................................... 170 Bar-Based Lyrics .............................................................. 142, 218
1st/2nd Endings ........................................................................ 151 Batch Create Audio Files .......................................................... 164
2-Bar Ending .............................................................................. 80 BB Remote ............................................................................... 296
64-bit VST .................................................................................... 9 BB2Go ...................................................................................... 298
ABC Notation File.............................................................. 73, 160 Big Lyrics Window .................................................................. 220
Acid ........................................................... 138, 147, 164, 259, 290 Big Piano Window ................................................................... 283
Activate .................................................................................... 371 Settings................................................................................. 284
Additional Chord Display Layer ................................................ 64 Burn CD ................................................................................... 165
Alternate Root .......................................................................... 110 Cakewalk Ins. File ...................................................................... 91
Anticipations .................................................................... 109, 237 CD Burner ................................................................................ 165
Arrangement Options ................................................................. 78 CDG Files ................................................................................. 220
Artist Browser .......................................................................... 174 Channel...................................................... 144, 208, 214, 241, 360
ASIO Driver ............................................................................... 12 Check for Updates .................................................................... 370
Assign Instruments to Style ...................................................... 318 Chord Breaks ............................................................................ 286
Assign RealTracks to Tracks .......................................97, 133, 171 Chord Builder ........................................................................... 110
Attachment ............................................................................... 159 Chord Options .......................................................................... 109
Audio Chord Sheet ................................................................................ 62
ASIO Driver ........................................................................... 12 Bar Lyrics............................................................................. 142
Audio Chord Wizard ............................................................ 265 Bar Settings .......................................................................... 153
Audio Edit Window ............................................................. 262 Breaks .................................................................................. 112
Audio Files ............................................................ 147, 258, 259 Chord Display Modes .................................................... 63, 109
Audio Input Monitoring ................................................. 59, 261 Chord Entry ............................................................................ 63
Batch Create Audio Files ..................................................... 164 Context Menu......................................................................... 66
Burn to CD ........................................................................... 165 Display Options...................................................................... 64
Channel Conversion ............................................................. 258 Editing .................................................................................... 66
Editing .................................................................................. 262 Erase Chords ........................................................................ 113
Effects .................................................................................. 268 Fake Sheet Mode .................................................................... 62
Equalize Tempos .................................................................. 258 Layers..................................................................................... 63
Fix Sour Notes ..................................................................... 264 Part Markers ......................................................................... 120
Fix Tuning.................................................................... 264, 267 Section Paragraphs ............................................................... 121
Generate Vocal............................................................. 206, 261 Song Form Maker ................................................................ 119
Harmonies ............................................................................ 267 Typing Chords...................................................................... 107
Import........................................................................... 147, 259 Video .................................................................................... 159
MiniBurn .............................................................................. 165 Chord Substitution .................................................................... 117
MME Driver........................................................................... 14 Chord Track................................................................................ 89
Offset ................................................................................... 258 Chord Tutor .............................................................................. 275
Opening Files ....................................................................... 258 Chords
Plugins ................................................................................. 268 Breaks .................................................................................. 112
Punch-in ............................................................................... 260 Chord Builder....................................................................... 110
Recording ..................................................................... 146, 259 Chord Options ...................................................................... 109
Rendering ............................................................................. 163 Chord Substitutions .............................................................. 117
Reverb .................................................................................. 197 Chords for Melody ............................................................... 118
Saving Song as Audio .......................................................... 163 Copy ..................................................................................... 113
Setup ...................................................................................... 11 Copy and Paste ............................................................. 113, 114
Transcribe .................................................................... 263, 267 Delete ................................................................................... 112
Tune Fix ....................................................................... 264, 267 Display Modes ............................................................... 63, 109
Volume Automation ............................................................. 264 Entering .................................................................................. 15
VU Meters .................................................................... 146, 260 Entering Chords ................................................................... 107
WAS Driver ........................................................................... 12 Erase..................................................................................... 113
Audio Chord Wizard ................................................................ 265 Fold .............................................................................. 151, 353
Audio Menu.............................................................................. 367 From Another Song .............................................................. 114
Band Styles ................................................................................. 77 From Text File ..................................................................... 114
Band-in-a-Box Service ............................................................. 299 Held Chords ......................................................................... 112
Bar Lyrics Layer ......................................................................... 63 Intro .............................................................................. 117, 228
Bar Settings .............................................................................. 153 Jazz Down ............................................................................ 117
Bar Settings Layer ...................................................................... 64 Jazz Up ................................................................................. 117

Index
 K Quick Copy ....................................................................... 114 Erase Chords and/or Melody..................................................... 113
List........................................................................................ 376 Event List Editor ....................................................................... 245
MicroChords ......................................................................... 107 Event List Filter ........................................................................ 246
MIDI Chord Wizard ............................................................. 270 Extension .................................................................................. 110
MIDI Keyboard Entry .......................................................... 106 External Devices ......................................................................... 88
Multiple Chords .................................................................... 107 External Hard Drive ...................................................................... 8
Nudge ................................................................................... 150 Extra Style Settings ................................................................... 315
Preview ................................................................................. 110 F5 .............................................................................................. 153
Reharmonist.......................................................................... 118 Factory reset.............................................................................. 355
Rests ..................................................................................... 112 Fadeout Ending ........................................................................... 81
Search and Replace............................................................... 116 Fake Sheet ........................................................................... 62, 213
Shortcuts ............................................................... 107, 354, 377 Fakebook................................................................................... 221
Shots ..................................................................................... 112 Favorite Folders .......................................................................... 73
Unfold........................................................................... 150, 352 Favorite Instruments ................................................................. 362
Chorus ................................................................................. 16, 106 Favorite Songs ............................................................................ 71
Clef ................................................................................... 210, 222 Feature Browser .......................................................................... 17
Concert Pitch .............................................................................. 79 File Associations ......................................................................... 73
Conductor ........................................................................... 87, 100 File Menu .................................................................................. 349
Convert Patch Lists ..................................................................... 91 Find Song Files ......................................................................... 288
Convert Track to C7 Chord....................................................... 321 Fix ............................................................................................... 53
Copy Fix Sour Notes .......................................................................... 264
Chords .......................................................................... 113, 114 Fold ........................................................................................... 151
Chords/Melody ..................................................................... 113 Force Accidental ....................................................................... 207
Rests ..................................................................................... 112 Forced Rests.............................................................................. 205
Copy/Move Tracks ................................................................... 149 Fourths Harmonies .................................................................... 342
Count-in and Metronome Options .............................................. 81 Freeze.......................................................................................... 83
Coyote WT................................................................................ 291 Fretlight..................................................................................... 294
Custom MIDI Styles ................................................................. 137 General MIDI 2 ..................................................................... 11, 90
DAW ......................................................................................... 289 Generate 7 Variations of WAVs ............................................... 181
Digitech Vocalist ........................................................................ 88 Generate Chords for Intro ................................................. 117, 228
Direct Input ............................................................................... 173 Generate Guitar Chord Solo ...................................................... 234
Display Options .......................................................................... 64 Generate Scales ......................................................................... 286
Download and Install ............................................................ 8, 288 Generate Syntetic Vocal.................................................... 206, 261
Drag and Drop .......................................................................... 289 Global Overrides ......................................................................... 73
Options ................................................................................. 290 GM ............................................................................................ 356
Driver Latency ............................................................................ 10 GM2 ...................................................................................... 11, 90
Drop Station .............................................................................. 289 Grace Notes............................................................................... 237
Drum Count-in ............................................................................ 82 Guitar
Drum Fills ........................................................................... 65, 121 Alternate Tuning ................................................................... 280
Drum Kit ................................................................................... 284 Guitar Chord Solo ..................................................................... 234
Settings ................................................................................. 286 Guitar Settings .......................................................................... 281
Drum Kit Definition.................................................................. 361 Guitar Styles ............................................................................. 311
Drum Notation .................................................................. 200, 203 Guitar Tuner.............................................................................. 293
Drum Stems .............................................................................. 190 Guitar Tutor ...................................................................... 278, 281
Drum Volumes.......................................................................... 361 Guitar Window ......................................................................... 279
Drums Window ......................................................................... 284 Toolbar ................................................................................. 281
Duration Lines .................................................................. 208, 209 Guitarist
DX ............................................................................................ 268 Select Guitarist ..................................................................... 234
DXi ............................................................................................... 9 Hard Drive version ........................................................................ 8
Ear Training Tutor .................................................................... 274 Harmony
Ear-training games .................................................................... 276 Audio Harmonies.................................................................. 267
Edit Menu ................................................................................. 352 Changing at any bar .............................................................. 154
Edit Settings for Current Bar .................................................... 153 Convert Track to Harmony ................................................... 145
Editable Notation ...................................................................... 202 Edit ....................................................................................... 340
Right-Click Menu ................................................................. 205 Live Harmony....................................................................... 368
Email......................................................................................... 159 Select .................................................................................... 145
Embellishment ............................................................................ 80 Harmony Channels & Settings .................................................. 360
Endings ................................................................................. 79, 80 Harmony Menu ......................................................................... 368

428 Index
Held Chords.............................................................................. 112 Mixer ...................................................................................... 58
Help Menu ................................................................................ 370 Overview ................................................................................ 50
Hi-Q MIDI Sound....................................................................... 94 Sizable Window ..................................................................... 50
Humanize ................................................................................. 245 Status Bar ............................................................................... 51
Hybrid Styles ............................................................................ 319 Toolbars ................................................................................. 54
Import MIDI File ...................................................................... 243 Track Radio Buttons .............................................................. 51
Import Song .............................................................................. 106 Margins............................................................................. 216, 223
Install Manager ..................................................................... 8, 288 Master Tuning .......................................................................... 293
Installation .................................................................................... 8 Medley Maker .................................................................. 158, 226
Intelligent Guitar ...................................................................... 311 Melodist .................................................................................... 226
Interpret Chords from MIDI ..................................................... 270 Melodist Maker ........................................................................ 346
Interval Tutor............................................................................ 274 Melody
intrface.bbw .............................................................................. 357 Adding ......................................................................... 144, 239
Intro Chords...................................................................... 117, 228 Copy ..................................................................................... 113
iPhone ....................................................................................... 298 Edit ....................................................................................... 245
Jazz Chord Symbol ................................................................... 209 Embellishing ................................................................ 144, 236
Jazz Down Chords .................................................................... 117 Entering in Notation Window .............................................. 240
Jazz Up Chords ......................................................................... 117 Harmonizing ........................................................................ 145
jBridge .......................................................................................... 9 Importing from MIDI File .................................................... 243
Jukebox..................................................................................... 103 Loosen Start Times .............................................................. 145
K Quick Copy........................................................................... 114 Recording ..................................................................... 144, 239
Karaoke .................................................................................... 220 Melody Embellisher ......................................................... 144, 236
CDG Files ............................................................................ 220 Settings................................................................................. 236
KAR Files ............................................................................ 161 Melody Menu ........................................................................... 363
Key ..................................................................................... 16, 105 Melody Wizard ................................................................... 88, 240
Latency ................................................................................. 10, 14 Memo ....................................................................................... 154
Layers ......................................................................................... 63 Menu
Lead Sheet ................................................................................ 212 Audio ................................................................................... 367
Fake Sheet Mode .................................................................. 213 Edit ....................................................................................... 352
Harmony Display ................................................................. 214 File ....................................................................................... 349
Margins ................................................................................ 216 Harmony .............................................................................. 368
Memo ................................................................................... 217 Help ...................................................................................... 370
Options ................................................................................. 216 Melody ................................................................................. 363
Lead-in Counts ........................................................................... 81 Options ................................................................................. 355
Linear View .............................................................................. 152 Play ...................................................................................... 362
Live Harmony........................................................................... 368 Soloist .................................................................................. 365
Local OFF ................................................................................ 357 Window ................................................................................ 368
Local ON .......................................................................... 357, 359 Metronome ................................................................................. 81
Looping ................................................................................ 56, 78 MGU files ................................................................................. 157
Overall Setting ....................................................................... 74 MicroChords ............................................................................. 107
Screen................................................................................... 200 MIDI Chord Wizard ................................................................. 270
Section ................................................................................... 66 MIDI Driver Wizard ..................................................................... 8
Loops ........................................................................................ 138 MIDI File Options .................................................................... 162
Loosen Start Times ................................................................... 145 MIDI File to Style .................................................................... 321
Lyrics........................................................................................ 217 MIDI Instruments ....................................................................... 89
Bar-Based Lyrics................................................... 142, 218, 221 MIDI Keyboard .................................................................. 87, 106
Big Lyrics Window .............................................................. 220 MIDI Keyboard Wizard...................................................... 87, 240
Conversion ............................................................................. 74 MIDI Monitor ........................................................................... 293
Copy to Clipboard ................................................................ 221 MIDI Normalize ................................................................... 79, 88
Document Window .............................................................. 219 MIDI Options ........................................................................... 359
Event List ............................................................................. 218 MIDI Settings ........................................................................... 360
Line-Based Lyrics ................................................................ 217 MIDI SuperTracks .............................................................. 98, 132
Lyric Edit Window............................................................... 218 MIDI Track Picker ................................................................... 137
Lyric Window Options ......................................................... 220 MIDI/Audio Drivers Setup ........................................................... 8
Menu .................................................................................... 219 MiniBurn .................................................................................. 165
Note-Based Lyrics................................................................ 218 Minimize Rests ......................................................................... 205
Main Screen Misc. Style More Settings ........................................................ 316
Chord Sheet ............................................................................ 62 Misc. Style Settings .................................................................. 314

Index 429
Mixer .................................................................................... 58, 83 Velocity ........................................................................ 208, 210
MME ........................................................................................... 14 Nudge Chords ........................................................................... 150
Motif ......................................................................................... 108 Open............................................................................................ 68
Multi-Channel ........................................................... 144, 214, 241 ABC Notation File .................................................................. 73
Multi-Drums ............................................................................. 192 Audio File ............................................................................... 73
MultiRiff ................................................................................... 177 Favorite Folders ...................................................................... 73
MultiStyles........................................................................ 120, 130 Favorites ................................................................................. 71
Music Replay ............................................................................ 276 Karaoke File ........................................................................... 72
MusicXML File .................................................................. 72, 160 MIDI File................................................................................ 72
Mute Track.................................................................................. 83 MusicXML File ...................................................................... 72
Mutes .......................................................................................... 59 Next Song ............................................................................... 72
MXL File .................................................................................... 72 Previous Song ......................................................................... 72
Natural Arrangements ........................................................... 79, 81 SongPicker.............................................................................. 68
Non-Concert Visual Transpose ............................................. 16, 99 Options Menu ........................................................................... 355
Normalize Velocity ............................................................... 79, 88 Output Chords to External Device .............................................. 88
Notation .................................................................................... 199 Output Chords to Track............................................................... 89
Beat Resolution .................................................................... 203 Panning ................................................................................. 59, 84
Bends .................................................................................... 205 Part Markers........................................................................ 65, 120
Chord Step Advance ............................................................. 200 Patch
Clef ....................................................................................... 210 Changing at any bar .............................................................. 154
Drum Notation .............................................................. 200, 203 Patch List Convert....................................................................... 91
Duration Lines ...................................................................... 209 Patch Map ................................................................................. 360
Edit Note Values................................................................... 206 Patches
Editable................................................................................. 202 Allow Change ....................................................................... 359
Editing Notes ........................................................................ 207 Patches on Higher Banks ............................................................ 90
Entering Notes ...................................................................... 203 PedalBass .................................................................................... 80
Entering Rests....................................................................... 204 Performance Track .................................................................... 167
Forced Rests ......................................................................... 205 PG Music Reverb ...................................................................... 197
Guitar Tab Entry ................................................................... 202 Piano Hand-Split ............................................................... 211, 234
Lyrics.................................................................................... 217 Piano Roll Window ................................................................... 247
More Options ........................................................................ 211 Piano Window........................................................................... 283
Notation Symbols ................................................................. 205 Pick a Loop ............................................................................... 138
Note Duration ....................................................................... 203 Pitch Invasion ........................................................................... 276
Note Properties ..................................................................... 212 Play ................................................................................. 17, 56, 78
Options ................................................................................. 208 Play Along Wizard.............................................................. 87, 240
Other Options ....................................................................... 211 Play Loop .................................................................................... 85
Resolution............................................................................. 202 Play Menu ................................................................................. 362
Rests ..................................................................................... 204 Playable Tracks ................................................................. 181, 204
Section Letters ...................................................................... 205 Plug-in Mode ............................................................................ 289
Section Text.......................................................................... 207 Options ................................................................................. 290
Staff Roll .............................................................................. 208 Plugin Settings (drag n drop) .................................................... 290
Standard ................................................................................ 201 Plugins Options ........................................................................... 60
Toolbar ................................................................................. 199 Practice ..................................................................................... 270
Transpose ............................................................................. 210 Practice Window ....................................................................... 273
Velocity Lines .............................................................. 208, 210 Preferences ................................................................................ 357
Video .................................................................................... 159 Arrangement Options ............................................................. 78
Note Audio Reverb ....................................................................... 197
Changing Pitch ..................................................................... 205 Big Piano Settings ................................................................ 284
Channel Numbers ................................................................. 209 Channels ............................................................................... 360
Colors ................................................................................... 209 Drum Kit............................................................................... 361
Duration ........................................................................ 203, 209 Fav.Patch .............................................................................. 362
Edit ....................................................................................... 206 General MIDI Patch Edit ...................................................... 360
Entering ................................................................................ 203 Global Overrides .................................................................... 73
Mouse Editing ...................................................................... 208 Guitar Settings ...................................................................... 281
Moving ................................................................................. 205 Harmony Channels & Settings ............................................. 360
Names ................................................................................... 209 Lead Sheet Options............................................................... 216
Offs ....................................................................................... 359 Lyric Window Options ......................................................... 220
Properties .............................................................................. 212 MIDI File Options ................................................................ 162

430 Index
 MIDI Options ....................................................................... 359 Settings................................................................................. 168
MIDI Settings....................................................................... 360 Shots..................................................................................... 170
Notation Options .................................................................. 208 Stems .................................................................................... 173
Open/Save ............................................................................ 357 Thickening ........................................................................... 184
Plugin Settings ..................................................................... 290 Using in Songs ................................................ 97, 133, 171, 175
RealDrums Settings.............................................................. 188 Video .................................................................................... 185
RealTracks Settings.............................................................. 168 Volume Adjust ..................................................................... 169
Drum Kit .............................................................................. 361 Recently Played Songs ............................................................... 71
Soloist/Melodist ................................................................... 232 Record
Transpose ............................................................................... 74 Wizard .................................................................................. 240
Preview Chords ........................................................................ 110 Record Audio ................................................................... 146, 259
Print .......................................................................................... 221 Record Filter ............................................................................. 239
Margins ................................................................................ 223 Record MIDI .................................................................... 144, 239
Options ................................................................................. 221 Regenerate RealTracks ............................................................. 177
Progress Bar ............................................................................... 58 Regeneration window ............................................................... 178
Pushes .......................................................................... 80, 109, 237 Reharmonist.............................................................................. 118
Quantize ................................................................................... 245 Remix Full Vocal Songs ........................................................... 128
RealCharts ................................................................................ 169 Remote Control ........................................................................ 296
RealDrums .......................................................................... 95, 187 Render to Audio File ................................................................ 163
Artist .................................................................................... 174 Repeats ..................................................................................... 151
Audio Reverb ....................................................................... 197 Reset to factory ......................................................................... 355
Changing at any bar ..................................................... 154, 191 Rests ............................................................................ 80, 112, 204
Favorites............................................................................... 190 Copy ..................................................................................... 112
Groove Selection .................................................................. 137 Reverb ...........................................................................59, 84, 197
Instant Preview..................................................................... 189 Rhythm Guitar Chord Tutor ..................................................... 278
Making ................................................................................. 325 Roland RA Series ....................................................................... 88
QuickList................................................................. 96, 136, 191 Root .......................................................................................... 110
RealDrums Picker ................................................... 95, 136, 189 Sample Rate................................................................................ 14
Settings................................................................................. 188 Save .......................................................................................... 156
Stems .................................................................................... 190 ABC Notation File ............................................................... 160
Using in Songs ........................................................ 95, 136, 189 Audio File ............................................................................ 163
Volume Adjust ..................................................................... 188 MIDI File ............................................................................. 161
RealTracks ................................................................................ 168 MusicXML File.................................................................... 160
+/- Files ................................................................................ 170 Performance ......................................................................... 167
Artist .................................................................................... 174 Save Frozen Tracks .............................................................. 158
Assign RealTracks .................................................. 97, 133, 171 Save Notation as Video ........................................................ 159
Audio Reverb ....................................................................... 197 Settings................................................................................. 157
Best RealTracks ................................................................... 175 Text File ............................................................................... 161
Best Sub RealTracks ............................................................ 175 Scale Generation....................................................................... 286
Changing at any bar .............................................. 134, 154, 182 Section Letters .......................................................................... 205
Copy ..................................................................................... 180 Section Paragraphs ................................................................... 121
Cut........................................................................................ 180 Section Text.............................................................................. 207
Delete ................................................................................... 180 Section Text Layer ..................................................................... 63
Fix .......................................................................................... 53 Select Melody Harmony ........................................................... 145
Folder Location .................................................................... 169 Sequencer Mode ........................................................ 144, 214, 241
Generate 7 Variations of WAVs .......................................... 181 Set MicroChords....................................................................... 108
Holds .................................................................................... 170 Settings for Transpose ................................................................ 74
Instant Preview............................................................. 134, 172 Setup
Medleys ................................................................................ 183 Audio ..................................................................................... 11
MultiRiff .............................................................................. 177 MIDI ........................................................................................ 8
Panning ................................................................................ 184 sforzando .................................................................................... 94
Paste ..................................................................................... 180 Shots ......................................................................................... 112
Playable Tracks ............................................................ 181, 204 Simple Arrangements ........................................................... 80, 82
Pushes .................................................................................. 170 Simpler Arrangement ............................................................... 173
RealCharts ............................................................................ 169 Sinsy ................................................................................. 206, 261
RealTracks Picker ................................................... 97, 133, 171 Slide Tracks ................................................................................ 84
Reverb .................................................................................. 170 Soft Synth Latency Adjust .......................................................... 10
Saving .................................................................................. 187 Solo ............................................................................................ 59

Index 431
 Adding .................................................................................. 147 About ...................................................................................... 15
Solo a Track ................................................................................ 83 Aliases .................................................................................. 129
Soloist Applying ............................................................................... 122
Best Soloist RealTracks ................................................ 147, 230 Band ....................................................................................... 77
Custom Solo ......................................................................... 232 Changing at any bar .............................................................. 154
Edit ....................................................................................... 342 Choosing........................................................................... 15, 75
Melody Influenced................................................................ 233 Current Style......................................................................... 122
Mode .................................................................................... 231 Enable/Disable...................................................................... 130
More Soloist & Melodist Settings ........................................ 232 Favorite................................................................................. 129
Select Soloist Dialog .................................................... 148, 231 Forced Styles ........................................................................ 130
Trade Four ............................................................................ 232 Hybrid Styles ........................................................................ 319
Wizard .................................................................................. 232 Instant Preview ............................................................... 76, 125
Soloist Maker ............................................................................ 342 Load Next Style .................................................................... 122
Soloist Menu ............................................................................. 365 Load Previous Style .............................................................. 122
Song Not Found ............................................................................. 122
ABC Notation File................................................................ 160 Recently Used....................................................................... 129
Allow Patch Changes ........................................................... 359 Replace MIDI w/ RealTrack ................................................... 81
Automatic Song Title ........................................................... 229 Song Titles Browser ....................................................... 76, 128
Chorus ............................................................................ 16, 106 StylePicker............................................................................ 123
Embellishment ........................................................................ 80 StyleMaker ................................................................................ 301
Endings Option ....................................................................... 80 Advanced Editing ................................................................. 318
Entering Chords .............................................................. 15, 107 Alternate Drum Note ............................................................ 306
Favorites ................................................................................. 71 Assign Instruments to Style .................................................. 318
Find ...................................................................................... 288 Bass Patterns......................................................................... 307
Framing .......................................................................... 16, 105 Define Custom Drum Kit...................................................... 305
Import ................................................................................... 106 Drum Patterns ....................................................................... 304
Key ................................................................................. 16, 105 Event List Editor................................................................... 319
Memo ................................................................................... 154 Extra Style Settings .............................................................. 315
New ...................................................................................... 105 Guitar Macros ....................................................................... 311
Opening .................................................................................. 68 Import Instruments ............................................................... 320
Part Markers ........................................................................... 65 Import Patterns from MIDI ................................................... 320
Recently Played ...................................................................... 71 Late Note .............................................................................. 319
Saving ................................................................................... 156 Making RealDrums............................................................... 325
Saving as Audio File ............................................................ 163 Menus ................................................................................... 301
Saving as MIDI File ............................................................. 161 Misc. More Settings .............................................................. 316
Saving as MusicXML ........................................................... 160 Misc. Style Settings .............................................................. 314
Saving as Performance ......................................................... 167 Override Guitar Style............................................................ 312
Saving as Text File ............................................................... 161 Overview .............................................................................. 301
Saving Chord Sheet as Video ............................................... 159 Pattern Velocity .................................................................... 318
Saving Frozen Tracks ........................................................... 158 Piano/Guitar/String Patterns ................................................. 309
Saving Settings ..................................................................... 157 RealTracks ............................................................................ 317
Settings ................................................................................... 80 Settings for Guitar Macros.................................................... 311
Simple Arrangements ....................................................... 80, 82 Slide Pattern ......................................................................... 321
SongPicker ............................................................................. 68 Soloist ................................................................................... 317
Tempo............................................................................. 16, 105 Style Checker ....................................................................... 321
Title ................................................................................ 56, 105 Style Log .............................................................................. 319
Song Form Maker ..................................................................... 119 Style Summary ..................................................................... 321
Song Title Generation ............................................................... 229 Toolbar ................................................................................. 303
Song Titles Browser............................................................ 76, 128 Trim Pattern .......................................................................... 318
SongPicker .................................................................................. 68 StylePicker .................................................................... 15, 75, 123
SoundTrack Generator .............................................................. 229 Instant Preview ............................................................... 76, 125
Staff Roll Notation .................................................................... 208 Options ................................................................................. 127
Standard MIDI File ........................................................... 161, 243 Song Titles Browser ............................................................... 76
Standard Notation ..................................................................... 201 Styles
Right-Click Menu ................................................................. 201 MultiStyles ................................................................... 120, 130
Status Bar .................................................................................... 51 Substyle ................................................................................ 120
Stems ................................................................................ 173, 190 Substyle..................................................................................... 120
Style SuperTracks ........................................................................ 98, 132

432 Index
Sync .......................................................................................... 359 Unfold....................................................................................... 150
SynthMaster Player ................................................................ 9, 91 Updates ..................................................................................... 370
System Requirements ................................................................... 7 UserTracks........................................................................ 135, 193
Tab.................................................................................... 202, 210 Development Settings for Current Bar ................................. 196
Tempo ................................................................................ 16, 105 Utility Track ....................................................................... 51, 139
Changing at any bar ............................................................. 153 Velocity Lines .................................................................. 208, 210
Relative Tempo .............................................................. 16, 105 Vibrato...................................................................................... 237
Tap ................................................................................. 16, 105 Video
Text File ........................................................................... 114, 161 Chord Sheet .......................................................................... 159
TGS Files.................................................................................... 94 Notation................................................................................ 159
Thru ............................................................................... 51, 88, 359 RealTracks ........................................................................... 185
Velocity Boost................................................................ 87, 359 Video RealTracks ..................................................................... 185
Time Signature ......................................................................... 152 Video Window ......................................................................... 269
Tone............................................................................... 59, 84, 197 Vocal Synth ...................................................................... 206, 261
Toolbars...................................................................................... 54 Vocal Wizard ............................................................................ 277
File Section ............................................................................ 55 Volume ...................................................................... 52, 59, 81, 84
Song Section .......................................................................... 55 Allow Changes ..................................................................... 360
Tools Section ......................................................................... 57 Changing at any bar ............................................................. 154
Tracks Section ........................................................................ 57 Volume Automation ................................................................. 264
Transport Section ................................................................... 56 VST .................................................................................... 60, 268
Views Section ........................................................................ 57 VST/DX Synths/Plugins ............................................................. 60
Track Radio Buttons ................................................................... 51 VSTi ............................................................................................. 9
Automatic Labels ................................................................. 358 VSTSynthFont64 .......................................................................... 9
Custom Labels...................................................................... 358 VU Meters ............................................................. 59, 83, 146, 260
Track Settings and Actions ....................................................... 140 WAS Driver................................................................................ 12
Track-to-Track Copy ................................................................ 149 Window Menu .......................................................................... 368
Transpose .................................................................... 74, 153, 210 Windows Audio Session ............................................................. 12
Non-Concert Visual ......................................................... 16, 99 Woodshed ................................................................................. 270
TranzPort .................................................................................. 295 XML File ............................................................................ 72, 160
Setting .................................................................................. 296 YouTube ................................................................................... 159
Tuner ........................................................................................ 293

Index 433
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434 PG Music Registration Form